Giraffe in a Turtleneck

TWIDDLE TWADDLE AND FRIENDS

2008-05-20T06:28:00.007-05:00

On the edge of a lovely medium sized town lived a pretty lady named Brenda. She is an athletic lady who likes to walk and take care of herself. Brenda's neighbors will usually see her leave her home loaded down with bread. You see, there is really two reason's Brenda walks everyday. Yes, one is to exercise, the other is to feed her ducks at a pond a couple of miles behind her house.

The lake is large and beautiful especially in the morning when the sun is coming up over the water. There are many different kinds of ducks that Brenda feeds, many who stay year round, others are seasonal. This day, Brenda is in for a pleasant surprise. Peaking out from behind a bunch of tall cat tails she spots a cute mallard duck. It is the first one Brenda has seen at her lake.

Brenda was always pleased to see new and different ducks at her lake. This little guy was real pretty. He had a glossy green head and a cute little waddle when he walked. Brenda immediately thought, "I'll call him Twiddle Twaddle" and so it was from that day forward, everyone came to know the little green headed duck as Twiddle Twaddle. Speed Demon the turtle agreed with Brenda that it was a perfect name for his new friend.

Mae Ling is a little girl that lives near the lake too. Brenda and Mae Ling have become good friends. Today is breezy so Mae has a kite she is playing with. There are all kinds of people who come to the lake. Many boy and girl scout troops camp out over night and always have lots of fun fishing, swimming and boating.

Summer was just starting to arrive and Brenda's favorite tree by the lake was still waiting for his new leaves to appear. She usually took a little nap under the tree after feeding the ducks. Today she decided just to sit by a stump since her tree had no leaves yet anyway.

The weather was really getting warm. There was a boy out on the lake riding a jet ski and even a lady getting ready to water ski. Summer was definitely here! All the animals in the lake had learned to stay away from the boats and skiers so they didn't get hurt. All the people watched out for the animals also, no one wanted to hurt anyone.

When Twiddle Twaddle first flew over the lake he was so glad to see a no hunting sign posted by it. Right away he knew this would be a great place to set up home and maybe have a family. He was already making lots of friends. One of his favorite was Speed Demon. Twiddle thought his name was so cute because of course it took Speed Demon hours just to get from one side of the lake to the other.

If Speed Demon was swimming, now that was a different story. He could swim pretty fast. Sometimes a friend would carry him and that helped a lot. Speed Demon was easy going and never in to big a hurry. He really didn't mind that it took him longer than most of his friends to get where he was going. He was just happy when he got there.

Frogs where another large group that lived in the lake. Jamal, a friend we have met before in other stories, had a great friend he came down to see a lot. Toadly the bull frog. He was one handsome frog and liked Jamal a lot. Jamal always brought him jars of flies to eat. Maybe that was one reason he was such a BIG frog. There was one other frog even bigger than Toadly. The giant King Kong!

Now this was a toad no one wanted to mess with. Motorboats steered clear for fear if they hit him he would tear up there boats or motors. Kong got a lot of respect from everyone. He went pretty much wherever he wanted to and everyone cleared a wide path for him!

Summer was in full swing now. People were water boarding, skiing and doing all the fun things that summer brings. Twiddle Twaddle was one happy duck, he had made lots of friends and loved living on the lake. Brenda kept him well feed along with all the other ducks. She fed them only the best great wheat bread. It kept them all happy and healthy.

This beautiful morning as Brenda walked up her path to the lake she stopped to pick a plant to take home. When she looked up the path she saw her favorite tree all leaved out and it was such a pretty scene, it almost took her breath away. Everyone around the lake was so happy. Brenda was happy too.

She laughed when she saw Toadly goofing around doing a hand stand on a lily pad. Then along came Twiddle Twaddle headed fishing. He was a very happy duck these days, you see Mrs. Twaddle was going to have babies and they were the happiest couple you could find. Brenda couldn't wait to see the babies. The whole lake community was very excited!

Then early one morning the most feared thing of all happened. Duck hunters snuck on the lake grounds and everyone became very afraid. These hunters knew what they were doing to. They even had a duck whistle to lure the real ducks out into the open.

While one hunter had a hot cup of coffee, two of his friends were in a boat on the lake watching for ducks. The poor animals were helpless unless the Game Warden came along and caught the hunters. The only problem was, he only came around once in awhile.

Luckily Brenda headed out early that morning to feed her ducks. The first unusual thing she saw was Twiddle Twaddle hiding in a crop of cat tails in the lake. He was also being very brave because he had Mrs.Twaddle and the eggs hidden so that if anyone was found it would be him. Fortunately, Brenda knew just what to do. She went to see King Kong!

When Kong showed up at the lake there were hunters running in every direction. You could be sure no one would see those hunters at this lake ever again! When Twiddle Twaddle saw the hunters running away he was so happy he flapped his wings and turned around and around in circles.

The next day was the most special day in Twiddle Twaddle's life. His babies were hatching and he was very nervous. Poor Twiddle just swam around in circles. He thought it was going to take forever. Mae Ling got to go and tell Twiddle that he had three new babies. Every one started to celebrate. Mae Ling picked flowers for Mrs. Twaddle and a few of the guys even shot off fireworks.

A neighbor friend Henry offered to grill some burgers for everyone. It wasn't long though before he was in trouble and had to put out a fire with a hose. Henry was a great guy but had never been known as a great griller. Brenda just smiled and drank some soda to celebrate.

Just a few days later the lake community saw the cutest thing they had ever seen. Twiddle Twaddle walking along with his three new babies. He was so proud! You could sure tell they were his babies, they all had that special Twaddle walk. Brenda brought some extra wheat bread and headed for the lake everyday to feed all the ducks including the Twaddle gang!

HAPPINESS IS HAVING GREAT FRIENDS TO SHARE THE BAD TIMES AS WELL AS THE GOOD!

"THE SECRET OF THE SUNFLOWER PIXIES"

2008-05-11T16:23:00.005-05:00

In a lovely home in Kentucky there lives a Pixie Princess named Elizabeth. She is very found of sunflowers and already has her seeds planted for this summers beautiful flowers to grow. There are many things that are needed to be successful in growing any plants and sometimes not so nice Pixies try to keep the pretty flowers from growing. They are sad little creatures who don't like pretty things they just want the world to be a dull black and white. Because of them, Mother Nature has provided us with special Sun Pixies who love all flowers and plants and help to keep our planet green and beautiful!

Another important part of growing any plant is water. If we have a good summer with occasional rain showers that is the best water there is for any plant. If not we need to help Mother Nature along by watering with a hose or watering can. Next is sunlight, we need plenty of light for most plants to grow big and strong!

Most people don't realize it but Mother Nature has millions of helpers. Otherwise how could she possibly keep everything all over the Earth so beautiful and green? These little helpers she calls her Green Pixie Fairies. They are lovely little fairies who most people can't see but are always around helping to make the plants grow.

The Green Pixie Fairies are very pretty and usually have all different colors of hair. There is a Pixie Fairy somewhere with every color of hair that you can find in the rainbow. They match the colors of flowers all over the world. Of course with all the good things in life, there sometimes are things that aren't so good. So it is with the story of the Pixie Fairies.

The Midnight Black Fairy is one of those who is never happy and does not like anything that brings joy to others. At night she comes out and sprinkles black dust on the pretty flowers of the world, trying to make them die. During the day she hopes for clouds to keep the sun from helping them grow. She also loves to see long dry spells when it doesn't rain for long periods of time. So long even the cacti in the desert suffer!

The Green Pixie Fairies have to work extra hard to keep Midnight Black from hurting their beautiful wildflowers. One day Mother Nature noticed that all the Green Pixie Fairies had picked themselves some sunflowers. It appeared these were their favorite flower. She gathered several pixies together and asked them why. All the Pixies looked at each other and one shy little one stepped forward and said, "because the are smart flowers." Mother Nature asked, "smart flowers, what do you mean by that my child?" "Well," said the little Pixie "because they follow the sun each day as it moves through the sky." Mother Nature smiled and said, "you are right my child, they know what they need and they follow the sun to get as much as they can!"

Mother Nature smiled to herself, she was so proud of her Green Pixie Fairies. She thought how very smart THEY were to realize the intelligence of the sunflowers. This year Mother Nature had a baby Green Pixie and she was very proud of her also. Mother always gave extra attention to all her baby Green Pixies. They needed extra love and teaching until they were old enough to take care of themselves. Mother fondly called her Sprout. She was learning fast and loved to show everyone her green thumb.

Other helpful creatures to Mother Nature were the animals on Earth. Cats and dogs helped out a lot to watch over the sunflowers. It seemed everyone loved sunflowers! The cats would sit on the fence post and watch out for the Midnight Black Pixie. The dogs liked to hide in the tall stalks of the sunflowers to jump out and scare her away if she showed up.

One of Mother Nature's favorite pixies was Pet Pixie. She was part animal and part human pixie. A real cutie who rode around on her turtle friend named Pokey because he was never in a hurry. Midnight Black was very frightened when she saw Pet Pixie. She would run away very fast because she thought she was so odd looking. The sunflowers loved to have Pet Pixie and Pokey around for that reason.

The cats loved Pet Pixie because she had ears and a tail just like them and even loved to eat fish. They considered her the cat's meow and one of their best buddies. When they saw Pet Pixie and Pokey coming, the sunflowers were always happy because they knew Pokey would hang around for awhile. He was never in a hurry to go anywhere, especially when he was among friends and the sunflowers all loved him!

It always helps to have Pet Pixie around because more kitties show up to help watch over the sunflowers. It seems the kitties like Pet Pixie and were curious to be around her and watch her. That helps keep Midnight Black away.

Though the Pixie Fairies are around all the time, most people think they live in large hollow trees and come out mostly at night. When people see pretty fire flies at night they just may be seeing some Pixie Fairies also, and just not realize it. The forest at night is alive with all kinds of creatures, we may never know all the different things we think we are seeing.

You see the closer you look the more possible it appears. Never say never, a firefly can be a pixie fairy in your mind if you want it to be. Mother Nature has named all her Pixies after a flower the color of their hair.

This pretty Pixie is named Heather because her hair is like the wild heather in countries like Ireland and even here in America. Heather is one of Mother Natures oldest Pixies and is a big help to her training the little ones like Sprout and helping out with all the others.

This is Buttercup. She loves all yellow flowers, daisies, daffodils and of course sunflowers. If you could see her in a field of sunflowers you can be sure she would be there weeding and check on the plants, making sure everything is ok with them.

If you see some very happy sunflowers smiling in a field you can bet Buttercup has just been there to water, weed and care for the smiling sunflowers. When the sunflowers are happy so are the bumble bees and all the wildflowers all around them!

Bluebells has lovely blue hair and likes to wear sunflowers in it to dress up her hair. Mother Nature always thinks she looks so pretty and so do a lot of the boy Pixie Fairies also! She always wears ice blue dresses and has huge blue eyes. Bluebells is very pretty, no doubt about that!

Under a lovely large brimmed sun hat, Mother Nature saw Autumn. Mother had named her that because of her beautiful brunette hair that always reminded Mother of the warm colors of fall that went so well with the sunflower arrangements most people displayed from early fall until at least Thanksgiving. With her large black eyes she is beautiful.

Olive is our next sweetheart. Without her to keep the leaves healthy to feed the plants the buds would never come out and become beautiful flowers. So you can see Olive is very important. Without happy healthy plants there would be no flowers. What a sad world it would be. So many things depend on one another. Without flowers and plants that produce seeds the birds would die and many other things would change. We really need Olive!

Violet loves all flowers, animals and people. She is simply a wonderful loving person and all the Pixie Fairies are very fond of her. She is everyone's friend. If you need help or a shoulder to cry on, you can always count on Violet to be there to listen patiently. This is Violets little puppy named Precious, because she is to Violet.

Precious is sitting beside a bouquet of miniature sunflowers. As you can see there are all different kinds available. All are beautiful and fun and easy to grow if you just help out the Pixie Fairies a little bit.

Mother Natures next Pixie Fairy is, wait a minute, a beautiful Pixie with huge blue eyes, lovely brunette hair and a smile that could light up the world. It must be one of her Pixie Fairies but no, she didn't know her name! Ahhhhhhh! It was Elizabeth the young lady who lived in the house! She was her grandma's Pixie Princess so I guess Mother Nature would just have to keep the ones she had and leave Elizabeth alone. Elizabeth had plans already to help out Mother Nature though, she is going to grow some beautiful sunflowers and is pretty sure the Green Pixie Fairies will help watch out for them.

Happy sunflowers are hard to miss. In the morning they face one direction and follow the sun all day, so at night they are facing the opposite direction. One other thing, sunflowers always seem to be smiling!

SHIMMERING MOON

2008-04-25T12:56:00.002-05:00

You Must Dream For Dreams To Come True...

Many people believe that living as a princess is always a wonderful life. That everything a princess wants is given to her. Most of the time that is very true but not always. Many princesses are not born that way. Some are but others have to work hard being good people then fall in love with a handsome prince and marry him. Lets visit some beautiful princesses and see how they live and became princesses.

Meet Princess Aurora and Teenie Bell her own little fairy, they live in a world of color. No black and white for them! No, they love color. They help keep the world beautiful with color. Anytime you see a pretty dress and the color just stands out to you it could be that Princess Aurora and Teenie Bell had something to do with making that pretty dress. Before her world became so colorful, Princess Aurora lived a drab black and white world.

One day while walking through the woods she met a handsome prince who looked so sad and lonely. His name was Prince Orrin. His world was very black and white also. He was such a nice young man that Aurora immediately fell in love with him. It was love at first sight!

Prince Orrin took one look at beautiful Aurora and thought how fragile and pale she was. He said to himself, "I must care and protect her for the rest of my life!" One night he saw Aurora dressed in pale blue under the light of a shimmering moon and shortly thereafter Prince Orrin asked Aurora to marry him. Aurora said yes immediately!

When their wedding day came, was also the first day she met Teenie Bell and several of Teenie's sisters. Aurora found out they were all members of a family called the Technicolor Fairies. Teenie

Bell's family was colorful in more ways than just one. They were all happy fun loving little fairies who sang and always looked on the bright side of everything. Always making good out of bad. That, Aurora thought must be why they were so brightly colored and full of fun. Teenie Bell became a life long friend that very day!

As Aurora started down the isle to marry her Prince, Teenie Bell and her family went to work. Suddenly all around everything that was a sad black and white started turning to lovely colors. Even Aurora, was starting to simply sparkle as she walked down the isle. Prince Orrin thought she was the most beautiful lady he had ever seen.

Prince Orrin's life would certainly never be boring. Anytime Teenie Bell got a little bored she would change the color of something about Princess Aurora. One day her hair may be pink and the next day it might be blue, Prince Orrin never knew what to expect but he didn't care. He thought Princess Aurora was beautiful in any color.

Teenie Bell soon introduced Princess Aurora to all the Princesses she knew and Aurora had many new friends. Princess Rosanna was a special friend. Princess Aurora decided she needed a fairy of her own. When she asked Teenie Bell, she suggested her sister named Rainbow Bell. Even though Rainbow Bell was suppose to handle all the different colors of the rainbow she always dressed in red. Princess Rosanna never wore any other color either so they were perfect for each other and became close friends right away!

Princess Liana which means climbing vine, is the Princess in charge of the plants and trees and all green things on Earth. Bet you can guess what color she likes to wear...

You got it, green! Princess Liana keeps all the forests and gardens beautiful. Another special Princess is Princess Kalila, her name means loved one. She and her unicorn horse named Elegant, because he is, watch over all the worlds animals. They do all they can to keep them healthy and safe.

Princess Kalila can't possibly cover all the land on Earth and all it's animals plus the oceans. Even with Elegant to fly her around it would be impossible so she has help from a friend Princess Aquamarine who watches over all the worlds oceans.

Princess Aquamarine has a huge job. She does her very best to care for all the creatures of the sea. The shrimp and crabs to the dolphins and whales. She has some help from her little sister Princess Aquarius who is in training and helps Aquamarine a lot.

Princess Aquarius is young and learning. She looks up to her older sister and tries to learn all she can from Aquamarine. Together they care very much for all the sea animals.

Today it looks like Teenie Bell had a thing for pink. She had Princess Aurora all decked out in pink but Aurora didn't mind because Teenie Bell was in pink too. She looked so cute and lady like,

Princess Aurora thought Teenie Bell should wear this outfit with the little parasol all the time. Of course she knew Teenie Bell would never settle for that. She loved all different colors!

Now, the Ice Princess Winter Frost was a real curiosity to Princess Aurora. She knew Winter Frost lived in frozen caves in the terribly cold Arctic. Princess Aurora couldn't understand how Princess Winter Frost could possibly live in the awful cold! She tried to explain to Aurora that it's just like anything else, it's all what you get use to. Princess Aurora wasn't to sure about that. She couldn't even get any of the Technicolor Sisters to go back with Princess Winter Frost. They all passed on the offer.

Princess Blossom was a favorite friend of Aurora's. She was so beautiful with pale blonde hair a pretty sun tan from always being out in the sun working with flowers plus huge lovely green eyes. She was also very sweet. Everyone she visited received a lovely bouquet of flower from her. All the Bell Sisters wanted to be her little fairy so they could dress her each day. Princess Blossom always looked lovely in every thing she wore. Princess Blossom was having trouble choosing a fairy, they were all so cute!

Princess Winter Frost went back to her cave alone but she was happy. She always had her beautiful white wolves to keep her company.

The next Princess Aurora met was Princess Star Bright. You can see that it takes a lot of Princesses to run and watch over our world. Princess Star Bright is famous for her shooting stars. When you really need to make a special wish Princess Star Bright seems to just know and sends one flying across the sky. Aurora thinks Star Bright has one of the nicest jobs one could have.

Princess Peacock was a beautiful but lonely Princess, Aurora thought. She asked Teenie Bell if she knew any young men that they could introduce to Princess Peacock. Teenie Bell smiled her cute little smile and said, "I believe I know just the man who she may like." It seems he was a sad handsome prince that Teenie Bell had passed many times walking through the woods. It appeared he was very lonely and Teenie Bell loved to play match maker. She thought these two belonged together.

When Prince David saw the sad but lovely Princess Peacock he held his hand to his heart without even realizing he had done so. He felt as thought his heart had just left his body and flown to her. He didn't know that he was getting some help from the Fairy of Love. She was part of the Bell family and like a little cupid she blew hearts at lovers to seal their love forever!

On their wedding day all the Bell Fairies and Princesses attended. It was a lovely day and all had a wonderful time at the wedding. Everyone was so happy for Princess Peacock and David. Princess Peacock told everyone how she had dreamed of this day and it had finally come true! They were a lovely couple and everyone knew (especially one special little fairy) that they would remain in love for the rest of their lives.

That night all the Princesses and Fairies went home with one thought in mind, not to forget to dream. The most beautiful Princess of all is the Dream Princess. She will help you with your dreams and make the ones that she can come true. Just remember she can't help you if you don't dream.

Dream Princess

Always Dream the Impossible Dream!

FLUBBER DUCKY WANTS TO JOIN A MOTORCYCLE CLUB

2008-04-20T21:35:00.003-05:00

Flubber Ducky is a fun loving little guy. One of his favorite things is water. That probably makes sense because ducks of course live in and near water. Flubber likes to try anything you can possibly do with water. He swims, fishes for food, and just floats around having a great time relaxing in the water. Flubber Ducky would think that he had the greatest life on Earth, if only he could do one thing...FLY!

Flubber would sit on his beautiful lake and watch the ducks fly over the city he lived near and dream of one day flying. You see some ducks just can't fly, they can only walk and swim. Flubber was one of those. Flubber was also no different than the rest of us. He always wanted to do anything he couldn't do!

Quacker was a duck who just wandered up to the lake one day and liked it so much he decided to stay. Quacker had been a hobo who just moved around all over the place. He had never had a real home before but when he saw the beautiful lake and met all the nice ducks who lived there, he decided this was home.

One of the first ducks Quacker met was Flubber. Flubber was so nice and friendly that he became Quacker's best friend immediately. Quacker knew he had a Buddy for the rest of his life. When he saw Flubber with an umbrella on a rainy day he thought he may have a lot of work to do with Flubber. Most ducks don't mind rain, after all they are in the water all the time!

Now, being a can do kind of guy, Quacker wanted to help his new friend with any problem he may have. As we know Flubber wanted to fly so Quaker set out to help. There was just one big problem, Quacker couldn't fly either. Quacker was good at almost everything. He could fish up the best dinner you ever ate. He was also great at most sports.

Quacker was a great golfer and could play with the best of them. He had been out on his own all his life and had learned to do many things other ducks had never thought of. He was pretty good at most everything he tried but like anyone else there were a few things that weren't his best.

Though he could play a pretty good game of hockey, sometimes he would lose his footing. Those ice skates can be hard to stand up on sometimes. One thing about Quacker, he would try almost anything at least once. He though about how he could at least give Flubber the feeling of flying.

Quacker thought surfing would certainly give Flubber the feeling of flying. Just one problem, it also almost scared him to death! Flubber decided maybe he didn't need to fly after all! Quacker and Flubber would just have to put their heads together and think of something a little less scary.

Quacker got on his computer and sent and e-mail to one of his best friends, Toadly the frog. He had known Toadly for years. Toadly was another hobo who just moved from place to place. He had met Quacker one day when they both stopped by a nice lake to see if they could catch some dinner. There weren't any fish that night but Quacker found some carrots and shared them with Toadly. They were friends from that day on.

Toadly was quite an impressive dude. He had a big red motorcycle and was the leader of a motorcycle club. When Toadly came riding in, everyone noticed. He was also a nice guy and had a large number of friends. Toadly was always willing to help out a friend and that is why he was here, to help Quacker and his new friend Flubber.

Toadly had asked members of his club to come and meet Flubber. He wanted to give Flubber an idea of how nice the club was and see if he would like to join. The first to show up was Walter the eagle and Herman the monkey. They were pleased to see that a lot of other animals had turned out to see the motorcycle club.

It was becoming quiet a fair atmosphere. Ducks were carrying balloons and everyone was having a good time. Then in rode Cool Cat a club favorite he was a friend to everyone and a great cycle rider. Flubber could learn a lot from Cool Cat. Cool Cat was the kind of fellow who was always ready to help anyone who needed it and Flubber sure needed help learning to ride!

Another monkey friend club member Eddy rode in. Eddy was a business monkey during the week. Eddy worked for the circus and did tricks on his cycle for the boys and girls who came to the circus. Eddy was one of the children's favorite circus attractions. He did a lot of great tricks. One of Flubber's life long friends was not to sure about this motorcycle riding.

His name was Doc. Doc probably got his name because he worried about all the duck families that lived in his lake. He told Flubber he should stop and think about this motorcycle club. It wasn't that Doc didn't like all the members, he did. He was just afraid for Flubber's safety. Doc knew Flubber didn't learn sports and things very easy and he didn't want to see his friend get hurt. After Doc pointed this out, even Quacker agreed, he didn't want Flubber hurt either!

Buster Bear was the last one to arrive but he sure put on a show doing wheelies and had the crowd very excited! A large crowd had gathered and all the people and animals were enjoying the cycle show. Quacker decided to join in and do some trips on his motorcycle. He hoped it would help Flubber to make a decision on what he wanted to do.

Quacker showed off some of his best wheelies, waving his hat at the crowd. He was a favorite right away! After watching all the fancy tricks that the club members did, Flubber thought maybe he should think about what he wanted to do a little while longer. Maybe not flying wasn't the worst thing in the world. After all Flubber was a pretty happy guy. He had lots of great friends and he could just swim and think about it. So that's just what he did!

WE ALL WANT THINGS SOMETIMES WE DON'T HAVE BUT IN THE END WE MAY FIND OUT WE DIDN'T REALLY NEED THEM ANYWAY!

LIVING THE EASY LIFE WITH GABBY GECKO & FRIENDS

2008-04-06T17:58:00.001-05:00

Gabby is an easy going fella that is liked by everyone. He got his name because he loves to talk and talk he does to anyone who will listen. Gabby is the friendliest guy on the small island he lives on. It is a wonderful place in the Pacific Ocean near the big islands of Hawaii. The weather is always warm and the island is covered by beautiful plants and flowers. Gabby and his friends feel as if they are living in paradise and most people would agree with them.

Gabby's island is called Splendor Island. It was so lovely there, all who visited wanted to stay forever. The island was surrounded by lovely white sand and the water so blue and clear you could see right through to the bottom. You could stand and watch fish swim right by your feet.

Crabs and lobster were daily visitors to the beach. They fit right in among the people and loved to get a little sun. None of the visitors ever bothered them and they never pinched a toe in the water. It was a nice friendly arrangement that everyone stuck to.

Surfing was a favorite thing to do on Splendor Island. Even Gabby loved to surf and was very good at it. Visitors to the island would stand and watch as Gabby rode the waves, he put on quiet a show. He even won some awards when the surfing competitions came along.

Living on the island was like being on vacation every day. Gabby would relax and send his friends e-mails. Then head out to see what was going on that day on the island. Gabby had many friends and would stop and have a conversation with all of them as he pasted by. That is one reason he was so well liked. He never missed saying hi to his friends.

Beautiful sailboats were floating on the water and fish were jumping out of the water. Gabby knew this was going to be a wonderful day on Splendor Island. Everywhere he looked were families having fun on the beach. Some were building sand castles and others were just enjoying the sunshine.

Gabby passed a friend named Henry relaxing in his hammock. Gabby knew Henry would have to get up soon and head for work. You see, Henry drove the island tour bus. Many people loved to take a ride all around the island and then over the pretty bridge that connected another small island to Splendor Island.

Gabby found his friend Bucky Beaver was hard at work building a dam across a small stream he lived by on the island. Everyone knew Bucky was the hardest working fellow on the island. Gabby had seen poor Bucky asleep right were he stood after working all day a few times.

Gabby spent a little time chasing a pretty butterfly, knowing he would never catch him, it was all just in fun. Gabby gave up when he reached the banana tree that his buddy Jangle lived in. He hoped he would be home because he wanted to talk to Jangle about a soccer game that Gabby and some of his friends were going to have.

Sure enough, there was Jangle swinging from a branch in the tree. Jangle always was the referee for the soccer games. Gabby wanted to get a time set up for the game. He was hoping they wouldn't have a storm hit. When a storm came to the island, they were usually pretty strong and scared everyone quite a lot. Even the flamingos had to hang on to the palm trees to keep from getting blown away!

Soccer was by far Gabby's favorite game. He was pretty good at it too. The best player of all was Bucky Beaver. With his wide tail he was really great! He could really do some fancy tricks with a soccer ball! The other friend they played with a lot was Fred the platypus.

Fred also had a nice wide tail that helped him with the ball too. He liked it most though for swimming through the water, doing fancy strokes like the backstroke. With his great tail Fred could move very fast through the water. Sometimes he could almost out swim some of the sailboats. At least he had a lot of fun trying.

Mr. Arnold was a vacationer on the island. He was sound asleep in a beach chair when Fred went swimming by. Fred, like everyone else really liked Mr. Arnold. He told everyone stories of years ago and how different things use to be. Little things, like how a candy bar that now cost a $1.00 he could get when he was a child for only five cents!

It couldn't have been a prettier day. The sea gulls were everywhere. They were so pretty and made such a beautiful sound that everyone felt as though they were is paradise. Another friend, Slim the weasel, was coming down the beach. He looked out for a moment toward the water and wait, what was that? He could have sworn he saw a Mermaid jump up out of the water by the rock edge of the water.

Besides the beauty of the island, was the fact that everyone liked and cared for each other. One of the oldest animals on the island was Mosey a very old tortoise who loved to eat green leaves and flowers. Slim especially was fond of Mosey because he was never in a hurry. He just took life as it came. Today Slim had brought something special for Mosey, one of his favorite flowers.

Sometimes Gabby had to keep an eye on Fred. He had a way of being a little sneaky. One day he was running off with something trying to hide it but Gabby found out it was just a gift for a girl friend of Fred's and he didn't want the guys to tease him about it. Underneath, Fred was really a nice guy that Gabby and especially Mosey liked a lot!

Gabby was taking a late afternoon break in what he called his hot tub. Really it was just an old rain tub but Gabby didn't care it worked just fine for him. Off at a distance he heard Bucky Beaver's evening alarm. Each day he would pound his tail on a log to signal the night time parties were about to begin.

Parties were great on Splendor Island. There were bands for dancing and lots of good food. Everyone had a great time and all wished they could stay forever. There were only a few very lucky ones who would live their whole lives on the island. Gabby, Bucky, Fred and Mosey were a few of the very lucky ones!

IF SOMEDAY YOUR PASSING A SMALL PRETTY ISLAND, WAVE. GABBY A LITTLE GECKO JUST MAY WAVE BACK!

HOMER THE VULTURE WHO WANTED TO BE A PEACOCK

2008-04-01T17:20:00.004-05:00

In this world there are many people who wish they were someone else. They are impressed by celebrities or people who have lots of money. Sometimes they are just a little jealous of a friend they think is prettier or has more things than they do. Well, the animal world is no different...

Homer was a vulture and not a very happy guy. He lived out in a desert. The desert isn't a place where many animals live. There are lizards, prairie dogs, snakes and lots of cacti. It is so hot in the desert that the temperature is well over one hundred degrees most days of the year.

Iguana lizards are all over the deserts in the southwest part of the United States. They are especially heavy near Mexico. The Mexican people are used to them and the cacti. The large cacti are like trees to the Mexican people. They sometimes sit in the shade and nap below large cacti.

The desert lizards and prairie dogs are all fast creatures and Homer had a hard time catching them for food. Homer like most vultures was left to eat animals that were already dead. Homer thought his life was less than glamorous! He wished he could be anything but a vulture.

One day Homer saw a beautiful peacock smoothing its feather. Homer thought he had never seen a more beautiful bird. Oh my, Homer wondered, why couldn't I have been born a peacock. People would come from all over just to look at me and I would be very proud. Homer talked to a falcon friend of his. "Dive Bomber" as the falcon was known said," give it up Homer you just weren't cut out the be a Peacock."

Homer looked up in the air and was so pleased to see his best friend flying in. It was Mr. Wizard his genius owl friend. Mr. Wizard knew almost everything there was to know about the world because he read every book he could get his hands on. He read all day and...

most of each night! If Mr. Wizard didn't know the answer to a question he would research it and try to find the answer. He usually did too! Turning Homer into a peacock was a tall order though. Mr. Wizard thought this just may be one of those things that simply wasn't meant to be but he would give it his best try. Homer was one of his best friends.

Mr. Wizard had to admit that Homer's life wasn't very exciting. He spend most of his days flying around looking for dead animals to eat. Homer was also lonely, he didn't have a family to share his life with and that made the desert a very empty place to live. It was so hot on the desert even the cacti were sweating.

Homer thought his life would be perfect if only he could be as pretty as a peacock and look at himself in mirrors all day. He could see himself sitting in a lovely gazebo surrounded by beautiful rose gardens with other small birds flying around. Maybe there would even be an ocean near by and some pink flamingos.

Mr. Wizard decided this called for some of his special miracle dust. He just could not stand to see his friend Homer so sad any longer! All Homer seemed to do lately was sit on his favorite cacti and let out pitiful sad cries. Mr. Wizards dust soon spread around the desert and a party started to happen.

Many of the cacti were joining in the party and having a great time. There was a even a cacti with a Mexican sombrero playing a guitar. Two others were doing a jig to the music. What none of them knew was that at the stroke of midnight, something special was going to happen to Homer.

The moon was up high in the sky and snoring away. Mr. Wizard's hat and magic wand were bursting with excitement. They were so excited about the surprise they were about to give Homer. Mr. Wizard was sure this special spell he had come up with for Homer was going to make him very happy!

The clock was finally striking midnight. Mr. Wizard had told Homer to bring a nice sweet card for a lady. Homer didn't know exactly why but he did as Mr. Wizard told him. After all, everyone knew you should listen to Mr. Wizard. He was the smartest guy around! Somewhere in the distance a church bell chimed the stroke of midnight.

Fireworks started going off and everyone knew something special was about to happen. Suddenly, there stood Homer with a whole new family. He would never be alone again. Homer began to realize he didn't need gazebos and roses to make him happy. He looked at his little family and knew this was what happiness was all about.

Mr. Peacock might be beautiful but he didn't have the love of Homers family. Homer decided he wished the peacock lots of luck but he wouldn't trade places with him for all the beauty in the world. Homer had all the beauty he needed right here with his new family! Mr. Wizard was so happy his head was spinning!

MANY TIMES WE FIND THE THINGS WE ARE LOOKING FOR RIGHT AT HOME!

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE, SPRING IS HERE!

2008-03-23T17:01:00.004-05:00

Spring has arrived to the wonderful town of Millville. The flowers are blooming and trees have leaves again after a long winter. Everything is new and fresh and the people and children of Millville are ready for a nice warm summer. Millville is a medium sized town so most of the families know one another. It is a wonderful, nice place to live, where folks help one another.

Mr. Anderson is out trimming hedges and mowing his yard. He always has one of the nicest yards in town. Mr. Anderson is very proud when people drive by slowly, just to look at his yard. He gets a lot of exercise just working on his yard. It is pretty much a full time job for him.

Mr. Anderson is very talented also. He loves to trim his shrubs into topiaries. Topiaries are shrubs trimmed in shapes like animals or other objects. This year he has decided to do a giraffe and a flamingo on each side of his walk. Mr. Anderson's topiaries are the thing most people come by to see, they are really pretty!

Mr. Anderson's flowers are the talk of the town too. His tiger lillies sway so pretty in the wind and his roses sparkle each morning with dew. Every year at the town fair, Mr. Anderson almost always wins a blue ribbon for his beautiful roses. He puts a lot of love and care into them all summer long.

Mr. Anderson has three children. A pretty teenage daughter named Brooke. One of Brooke's favorite things to do is go to the mall and shop. That doesn't surprise anyone who has a teenager. His other daughter is Melanie and she is seven years old. She looks up to her big sister Brooke and wants to be just like her.

Mr. Anderson's son is Mike, he is twelve years old. Mike's favorite thing to do is play video games and he is very good at them. After all, he plays them almost every day so he has plenty of practice. Mike is a nice boy, he likes to help out around the house and will probably grow up to be just like his dad and always have a pretty yard.

Right now, Mike is helping his dad fix and paint the fence around their yard. Mike is a hard working boy and his father is very proud of him. His father knows, when Mike gets done with the fence it will look like new again. Mike always puts his very best into everything he does.

Meanwhile, Melanie, Mikes little sister is jumping up and down to get a look at a delicious looking pie her mother has cooling in a window. Melanie thinks she will get the whole pie. Brooke and Mike think they are not going to let that happen. They are all a very happy family and have a lot of fun with each other.

Mikes Boy Scout Troop had set up a day in the park for the next and one of the fun things they planned was a kite flying event. Mike and several of his friends were having lots of fun flying their kites. It was a good day for kite flying because the wind was just right.

The people watching were enjoying the kites almost as much as the kids flying them. They would let out a big cheer each time a child got his or her kite up in the air. The people of Millville really knew how to support each other! It was a great town.

Johnny Davis was making ice cream as fast as he could. Everyone wanted some of it. Johnny was famous for his great ice cream. Today he was making chocolate and it seemed it was the whole town's favorite! Mike got a big cone and was it ever good! He hoped Brooke and Melanie would get some too.

The next day the community pool opened for the summer. It was a little chilly that day so Johnny stuck his toe in the pool to see if it was warm. Guess what? It was cold! Poor Johnny was shivering all the way back to the locker room, where he changed clothes and decide to wait for awhile before trying to go swimming again!

Spring kept moving along and people were putting down grass seed and watering lawns and flower beds. Of course the temperature kept rising. Soon it was warm enough to go to the beach that was near the city of Millville. That was one of the things everyone who lived in Millville loved most about the city, that it was near the ocean.

Sue a friend of Melanie's was having a great time with her beach ball while Johnny was building sand castles. The kids all loved the beach and enjoyed seeing who could build the nicest and biggest sand castles. Johnny was very good at it and usually won in the end.

Brooke drove by Mr. Henderson's on her way to the mall. She almost had a wreck when she saw the giant carrot he had in his arms. Looked like he had won the blue ribbon at the fair this year for the biggest vegetable! Mr. Henderson used to own a farm just outside of Millville so he knew a lot about growing things.

Mr. Henderson kept his yard very nice too. He and Mr. Anderson had a friendly rivalry going on about who had the nicest yard. It seemed he and Mr. Anderson were always planting something. This week Mr. Anderson was planting some apple trees. His wife could bake wonderful apple pies that Melanie just loved.

Right now, Melanie is a little upset with her brother Mike. He had a squirt gun and was chasing her and some of the other kids all around trying to squirt them with water. Melanie was not happy! She would find a way to get him back, he could be sure of that!

Johnny was playing with a snake hose and when Melanie saw it she thought that would be perfect to help her get back at her brother. She borrowed the hose from Johnny and went after Mike. By the time Melanie was through, Mike was soaking wet. He had been paid back real good for the squirt gun stunt!

Seeing Mike soaking wet was the funniest thing his friend Rob had seen. He could hardly stop laughing. When Mike started to dry he got on his scooter and headed for home. He decided to only squirt plants and grass from now on with his gun. He also told himself he never wanted to make Melanie mad again!

Ellen a friend of Melanie, rode her bike by Melanie's house the next morning and was so surprised at all the wonderful things she saw there......

There were two love birds sharing a pretty rose. A honey bee with a daisy. A butterfly on a pretty lily. A beautiful yellow daffodil with a dragon fly on it. Probably though the sweetest thing she saw was a fawn smelling a daisy.

All any of us need to do is open our eyes and carefully look around to see all the special things around us every day. We may not always see a fawn smelling a daisy or a skunk with a rose but there are many special things around us all the time if only we just look!

ALWAYS BE AWARE OF THE LITTLE THINGS AROUND YOU! MANY OF THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE REALLY ARE FREE!

MARVIN THE LITTLE SPACE CADET

2008-03-16T21:42:00.003-05:00

Marvin lived on the beautiful planet of Jupiter. He was a happy go lucky little guy who loved to fly from planet to planet and visit the other space creatures on each planet. There was only one planet he had not gotten to yet and that was Earth. Marvin had his heart set on visiting Earth very soon. It was a long trip so he needed to save up a lot of money for all the fuel it would take to get to earth.

Marvin was so excited about a visit to Earth because he had already met some of the creatures from that planet. One day a space craft called the space shuttle landed on Jupiter and a few of the creatures from Earth got off and introduced themselves. Marvin shook hands with the pilot, his name was John. Marvin also found out that the creatures on Earth called themselves people.

John planted something he called a flag and Marvin had a great time watching all the things the Earth people did while they were on his planet. One of the astronauts named Dave liked to float up in the air and play around. He said it was like going up on a trampoline and not coming back down. Dave thought it was a lot of fun.

John and Dave gave Marvin a toy globe of the planet Earth. Marvin played with it all the time along with his toy space ship. Marvin's people flew flying saucers instead of space shuttles. Marvin really liked John and Dave. He thought they were the nicest creatures he had met from any of the planets he had been to. There were two more astronauts along with Dave and John. One was a lady named Martha and another man called Jackson.

Martha had the job of handling the rovers that the shuttle had brought with the astronauts. One had a long arm to pick up rocks and soil samples. The other mostly took movies of the planet. Marvin thought both were a lot of fun to watch. He followed them all around and learned a lot about what they thought was important to take back to Earth from his planet.

Marvin's planet had many different kinds of robots Marvin's favorite was the Bird Bot. Jupiter had no animals, not even birds so someone decided to make some Bird Bots. Marvin loved to watch them especially when they wanted to look behind them. Instead of turning around they just bent down and looked through their legs. Marvin thought that was very funny!

Even the top fellow who ran the whole plant was a robot. He was like our President and had a lot of responsibility. Marvin's teacher was Ms. Roberta the robot. Her favorite thing to do when she wasn't teaching class was to play chess. She was very good at it. Martha started dropping by to play with Ms. Roberta but had never beaten her yet.

One day Jackson was doing a spacewalk to get to a satellite that was just above the Jupiter atmosphere. As Jackson floated out to the satellite he looked down toward earth. You could see the reflection of the planet earth in his face shield. He thought of his family and friends so far away. It wouldn't be to long before they were headed back home.

This satellite was sent from Earth many hundreds of years before and needed a few repairs. It was really exciting watching Jackson float out to the satellite. The astronauts also knew there was a powerful telescope back at NASA watching and keeping track of all that was happening on Juniper.

Juniper is a beautiful planet. It appears to have strips around it with rings of clouds and gas that circle the planet. Marvin really wanted to visit Earth someday. He had been told about all the green plants and trees as well as wonderful animals and birds all over Earth.

The only things that Jupiter had were robot dogs. Marvin dreamed of having a warm fuzzy puppy someday like he had heard about on Earth. From what Marvin had heard about the dogs on Earth there just seemed to be something missing with the robo dogs. Marvin thought it was probably that warm cuddly feeling and loving ways the dogs on Earth were said to have.

When Marvin went to sleep at night he just sat and floated in the air like all his people did. He would dream of going to Earth and all the different things he would see. He had heard that Earth people had many different kinds of space craft. Rocket ships of all sizes and shapes. It was even said that people on Earth didn't walk hardly at all anymore.

Marvin was told they had transportation vehicles that took them anywhere they wanted to go. It sounded like a lot of fun and Marvin wanted to get there someday. Marvin dreamed of the first place he would visit on Earth. In his dream it would be a Zoo. Marvin loved animals and really wanted to see as many different ones as he could.

The first would be the lion. Marvin knew they were called the king of the jungle After that, he wanted to see the zebra. Marvin thought a horse with stripes sounded pretty neat! Martha would sit and tell Marvin all about the animals and the zoos. Oh, what a great time Marvin would have if he were able to visit one someday.

Marvin pictured a monkey playing with a space craft toy that he had given the monkey. Then he thought he would go see the giraffe. Martha said they were so tall that they could eat leaves out of the top of trees. Visiting a zoo would be something Marvin would remember for the rest of his life.

Jackson played guitar and decided to give it to Marvin. He taught him how to play it and Marvin learned very fast. John gave Marvin a toy gun and Marvin loved playing cowboy like the ones he had heard lived on Earth. The time had come for the astronauts to return to Earth.

One of Marvin's robot friends had made some beautiful roses that looked very real to give to Martha. She was so pleased that a tear came to her eyes. Like all the astronauts they were happy to be going home but would really miss everyone they had met here on Jupiter, especially Marvin. Marvin gave the crew the peace sign. He had heard that on Earth it meant lets be friends.

Pilot John said, "One day we may get back again and find that Marvin is the leader of Jupiter. He sure is one smart little guy!" The astronauts all waved goodbye and all their new friends on Jupiter waved back. They were all going to miss each other. Jupiter and Earth were definitely two planets who could someday live together.

As the shuttle lifted off for Earth, one of Marvin's friends jokingly held up a hitchhiking sign to Mars. The whole crew got a big laugh out of it and Marvin just smiled. All of them hoped that someday, someway Marvin would make it to Earth for a visit. As the Astronauts sped through space they passed many planets. Martha said, "I wonder how many other wonderful creatures and robots we might meet on those planets?" Pilot John said, "We'll just have to come back someday and find out!

WHEN YOU LOOK UP AT THE SKY THE NEXT TIME, THINK ABOUT HOW MANY OTHER CREATURES MAY BE OUT THERE!

TUCKER THE TIGER LEADS A REVOLT!

2008-03-07T21:50:00.003-05:00

If your an animal, the zoo is usually a nice place to live. These days most zoos try to make the areas animals live in as much like their real home as possible. They are well fed and cared for by veterinarians and zoo keepers. That's normally the way it is at the zoo where Tucker the tiger lives. Beautiful hills with trees and green grass to lay in and good food everyday.

Tucker has always been pretty happy living at the zoo. He likes to watch the children go by and enjoys being one of the zoo stars. He doesn't like the fact that Stanley, one of his zoo mates is so greedy he sometimes tries to take his dinner steak away! Tucker usually wins in the end and never goes hungry.

The lions and all the other large cats live near Tucker and the other tigers. From their caged area on top of a big hill, the lions, tigers and jaguars can lay and watch the Sea Life Show down below. They all thought it was fun to watch all the people as much as the people came to look at them. They also like watching the lady trainer Ellen work with the dolphins.

Ellen had been working with Bill and Sue, the two dolphins since they were babies. She was terrific with them and they loved her. Dolphins are one of the smartest creatures on earth and very gentle. Ellen's big finish was riding on the back of Bill and Sue standing! The crowd always went wild and the big cats never got tired of watching the show.

From their hill they also could see the marlins sword fighting. Neither of them ever won the fight so the cats decided they were really just playing with each other. Mary Beth, one of the zoo seals liked to watch the marlins also. Mary Beth and the other seals were a big part of the Sea Life Show. It was a great show for the families coming through the aquarium.

Suddenly one day a Circus Ring Master came to the zoo and asked to see if some of the tigers would perform in his show. The zoo keeper came and got Tucker. Now Tucker wasn't going to have any of this! He firmly stood his ground and refused to jump through the burning hoop. What did they think he was a dumb Tiger or something? A monkey friend of Tuckers was watching and laughing from a tree branch. He knew Tucker was the last tiger who would go through that ring of fire!

That night one of the zoo keepers accidentally dropped a set of keys near Tuckers cage. Tucker worked for a long time but finally got a long stick and reached out and got the keys. Since he was still mad about the ring of fire, he took off and ran around opening all the zoo cages. Tucker then told everyone to follow him to the National Park that was near by. All the animals did just that. They wanted to see what being free would be like.

The National Park was run and watched over by Ranger Dan. He loved all animals especially the squirrels. He fed them by hand and even put up a squirrel crossing sign for them. A lot of people laughed when they saw it but Ranger Dan had not lost one of his squirrels in a long time. It sure seemed to be working!

Next morning when Ranger Dan pulled into the park, things didn't at first appear any different. He saw Buster beaver and the apple tree talking about Buster using her for wood in his beaver dam. The apple tree wasn't having any of it. She told Buster to move along and find another tree! The wise old owl was resting in another tree watching the two of them.

Then Dan saw Blackie his favorite big black bear. Ranger Dan had known Blackie since he was a baby and as usual he had stolen some poor tourists lunch basket. Ranger Dan only shook his head and let Blackie finish it. He wondered if people would ever be more careful with their things. Come lunch time he bet this family would. He got out his binoculars to see if the family was still near by so he could tell them what happened to their lunch.

Finally he spotted a tent that might belong to the family. But...wait what was this, a Bengal Tiger stuck it's head out of the tent. There were no Bengal Tigers in this area. Dan looked around some more and suddenly he saw a full grown hippo in the little stream that ran between two mountains in the park. What in the world he thought, these are animals you would normally find in Africa. What were they doing here!

Ranger Dan turned around and coming down a path was a mom and baby panda bear. Over in the bushes he saw another one eating leaves. Dan knew pandas were originally from China. What in the world was going on. He knew these bears couldn't have been born and raised here in this park. Ranger Dan had to get to the bottom of this!

On his way back to get his jeep, Ranger Dan even saw an iguana catching lots of flies. He also knew iguana were not from his area. When he got to his jeep Blackie was having his usual fun jumping up and down on it. This had become a game between Blackie and Ranger Dan. Blackie always got down and took off when he saw Dan coming.

As Dan got in his jeep to drive up the mountain he pasted a lama grazing on grass. Then up in a tree was the cutest Koala Bear. This was all very strange but also wonderful. Ranger Dan was really enjoying seeing all these beautiful wild animals. The visitors to the park were also. Many told Dan this was a day they would never forget.

Dan looked up and saw Mr. Owl's head moving back and forth. He was also totally fascinated with all these animals that he had never seen before. What really caught Mr. Owl's attention was a pair of giraffes that were eating in the top of trees. Mr. Owl thought this may be trouble for him if they visited his tree. They were very tall animals. He hoped he wouldn't have to move to a new tree.

When Dinky and Winky, a baby boy and girl elephant went by the whole crowd of people visiting the park were ooohing and ahhhhing! They were really cute. The mom and baby rhinos were also a big hit. The people visiting the park that day sure didn't expect to see all these different kinds of animals. They were really having a good time and would never forget this day!

After finding a gorilla in the woods, Dan headed for outlook cliff. From there he should be able to see a large area and many more animals if there were any. When he got to look out cliff, it was just as he had guessed. He saw many more animals that should be in a zoo. Something must have happened there. Dan decided to go back to his jeep and radio the zoo to see if something had gone wrong.

Dan passed a beautiful black panther on his way to the jeep. Then he saw a brown bear Dan had known for years reading a news paper. The bear told Dan there had been a break out at the zoo and almost all the animals were loose. When Dan got to the jeep he radioed the zoo and told them most of their animals were in his park.

Tucker overheard the conversation grabbed Ranger Dan and locked him in the cage the Ranger keep near his jeep for hurt animals. Tucker and all the animals were just having to much fun right now to go back to the zoo. Tucker was protesting the wearing of fur by people as they came through the park. He was really having a good time.

Tucker let Ranger Dan out of the cage after a few hours. He is a nice, gentle tiger. He just wanted Dan to know how it felt to be in a cage. That night Ranger Dan cooked up as many hot dogs as he could for all the hungry animals who came by. Almost all the animals from the zoo had never had to find their own food as the zoo keepers kept them well fed. The lion king roared out the word about the hot dogs and everyone came to have some.

Tucker knew a lot of the animals were getting hungry and would have to go back to the zoo so he got into his fighting stance and negotiated a good deal for them. The zoo keepers then rounded up all the animals they could find, which were most of them. They were loaded in large trailers and taken back to their homes. As they left a beaver who had made many friends from the zoo watched them go as he munched on an old stump. Maybe he would go to the zoo and visit one day.

Tucker had negotiated a golf putting green for all the animals. Many visitors were surprised to see just how good at golf many of the animals were. One of the other things he got was a hot tub for the sharks that lived at Sea Life. Now that became a really popular thing for all the visitors to see at the zoo. Everyone enjoyed seeing those two big sharks relaxing in that hot tub.

If one day you are visiting a National Park and suddenly you seen a boy ride out of the woods on the back of a panda bear. Or a monkey ride by on a motor cycle. You just might be near a zoo where a tiger named Tucker lives happily playing golf in his spare time. If you meet a Ranger named Dan in the Park you'll know for sure your in the right place. Tell him to say hi to Tucker the next time he's at the zoo for all of us!

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME BUT SOMETIMES A LITTLE VACATION IS A GOOD THING!

The Day The Music Came to Life

2008-03-02T22:27:00.001-05:00

This morning when Brianna woke the air was filled with music. What a beautiful sound it was. Brianna was a singer and new good music when she heard it. This music was like none she had ever heard. Before the day would come to an end, Brianna would discover that she had been a part of a day that had never happened before and may never happen again.

As Brianna drove past the Elementary School it was shaking with music. Nearby, at the High School she could see members of the band parading in the ball field but there was something more. The air was simply filled with music. Music that was so pretty it almost took her breath away.

Brianna knew a lot of the children at the Elementary School were learning to play musical instruments but it wasn't possible for the little ones to be playing quite this good. The music was so beautiful, it would take someone with a lot of experience to play this well.

Brianna stopped by and saw Miss Wilson, a teacher Brianna once had, playing her beautiful harp. A cute little girl was playing a baby grand piano like she should be at a huge concert. How could all this possibly be? Brianna wondered if maybe angels had come to earth and blessed everyone with the gift of music. Long after she had passed the schools she could still here beautiful music.

Brianna thought of the musical genius Beethoven, playing his cello. This was the kind of music that even Beethoven would be proud of. She decided to head to the music store and see if they knew what was happening. As Brianna pulled up to the store again she could see that the whole store was rocking and rolling. Because Brianna was a singer she knew everyone at the store.

When she walked in, she couldn't believe her eyes, every instrument in the store was playing by itself! Electric guitars were pumping out music just sitting on the shelves or hanging on the walls. The saxophones were blowing some great jazz. It was really incredible, Brianna had never seen anything like this!

Brianna spotted JayCee rapping long with the instruments. JayCee owned the music store and also worked as a DJ some nights at the place where Brianna sang. She also saw Steven Jones who was her bands lead guitar player. Steven was also playing along with the music. These two guys loved music and Brianna could tell they were having the time of their lives!

The sounds were so wonderful Brianna just sat down on a stool next to a keyboard and enjoyed the sounds. A banjo was strumming away and all the instruments together made a sound that Brianna just could not describe. It was one of those things you simply had to hear for yourself.

On her way to the club where she worked that afternoon, Brianna saw things she didn't think she would ever see again. Even animals were out in the park playing musical instruments. A cute cat was getting down doing some great fiddling, she saw a rocking robin, a crooning hound dog and a kangaroo with a horn. Finally she passed a teen with a boom box as big as he was and Brianna thought that was the most normal thing she had seen all day!

When Brianna walked into the club where she worked, the jukebox was loudly playing music. Nothing unusual about that except for one thing, it wasn't even plugged into the wall! Then the moment Brianna will never forget as long as she lives. She looked up on the stage and there warming up with an electric guitar was a music note. Playing the guitar all by itself!

The Chili Pepper Brothers were joining in and before you knew what was happening many other notes joined in on stage and they had a real jam going on. Brianna asked her boss what was going on and he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't have a clue but let's just relax and have a great time. Who knows we may never see a night like this again!"

The "Note Band" was very impressive. Every note they played was perfect. They had a solo singer who was fabulous also. When they started playing and singing the whole crowd of customers were cheering and applauding. No one had ever heard anything quite like it.

The Note Band introduced themselves as the heart and soul of music. Their three back up singers were Doe, Rae and Me. Somehow that seemed to fit perfectly for them. The band wanted Brianna and her back up singer to join them. When they all hit the stage the crowd went wild. They knew they were seeing something most people would never see.

Brianna was so proud when they asked her to join in and sing with them. Miranda, Brianna's best friend and back up singer in her band joined them on stage also. It was a night neither would ever forget. For years to come they would be telling their children and grand children about this day and hoping someday it would happen again.

Brianna sang her heart out and had all the hearts in the club singing along with her. She hoped that the day would come again when all the music notes would come to life and play or sing their own music. With this day coming to an end, the only thing left was for the Note Band to do was to take a big bow. To huge cheers and applause they did just that!

TO KEEP THE WORLD ALIVE, NEVER LET THE MUSIC DIE!

THE SPECIAL LOVE OF GUARDIAN ANGELS

2008-02-24T14:35:00.001-05:00

Many people believe in angels. People we have known and loved that are no longer with us except in the form of angels. We of course can't see them but they can see us. It must be like the Easter bunny. When I was a child I would go to bed the night before Easter and there would be nothing by my bed. Next morning sure as can be, there was a big basket full of candy of all kinds. Never was I able to stay awake long enough to see that Easter Bunny. He just showed up when I was asleep.

Most of you have probably heard the saying, "Every time a bell rings an angel gets their wings." The day you get your wings must be a wonderful day for an angel. They also get a beautiful golden halo and must learn to keep it balanced above their heads. This takes a little practice. Before you know it, they get the hang of it and become official angels.

Angelica is the Mother Superior of all the angels. Harold here, who is having a little trouble learning to balance his halo has come to ask for her help. It doesn't matter if they are male or female, Angelica is in charge. She is there to help all the angels with any problems they may have but most of all she has to decide who is ready to be a guardian angel.

Suzanne is a new angel and is taking singing lessons and learning to speak from a podium. She has her heart set on becoming a guardian angel and that means she has a lot of things to learn. Guardian angels are very special. Many times they are put in charge of watching over people on earth who can not do it for themselves.

Charlie here, the one in the locker, is the kind of person who needs a guardian angel. He just happens to be the kind of guy bullies pick on. One good thing though, the bully often ends up at the Principal's office in trouble. Some believe guardian angels may have something to do with things like this. After all these bullies sure deserve it!

Suzanne is practicing her musical instruments today. She has so many to learn. There is the horn, harp, violin, plus the beautiful large harp. That is Susanne's favorite. It has a wonderful sound. The more she practices the better she gets.

Angelica is praying for all her student guardian angels because lately there have been more and more people on earth that need watching over. She hopes all her young students will make it through their classes and be able to help the people who need them so badly. Angelica feels pretty sure that Susanne will make it through her classes with good grades, she tries so hard.

Suzanne has loved animals all her life. Now that she is an angel there is always birds around her keeping her company. Today a Cardinal is sharing her tea with her. Susanne is watching all the things going on down below on earth. It appears to her that Angelica is right, there is a big need for guardian angels. Suzanne decides to make some notes on people who need help.

People are not the only creatures who need guardian angels, animals do too. There are some real cute animal angels and a lot of poor little animals on earth who need lots of help and love. Every time an animal is adopted from a shelter a guardian animal angel gets it's halo. A child and family gets a friend for life. Where else can you find a deal like that?

Meanwhile back on earth, Stewart is climbing trees and thinking about the soapbox derby race coming up. He can't wait, his soap box is all ready to go and he believes he can win this year. Stewart doesn't have a guardian angel yet but he sure could use one! Suzanne is watching from up above and hoping for the best for Stewart. She is afraid he needs all the help he can get!

Just as Suzanne expected, things didn't go as Stewart planned. Since she had been keeping an eye on him for sometime now, Suzanne had realized things usually didn't go the way poor Stewart thought they would. She was becoming very fond of Stewart and hoped things started working out better for him soon.

As Suzanne played her beautiful large harp, she saw Angelica float by on a cloud sound asleep. Apparently Suzanne's lovely music had put Angelica to sleep. It wouldn't be long now before the new angels would have their final exam to become guardians and Suzanne was working as hard as she could. She knew there was evil in the world and she wanted to help fight it.

Suzanne remembered her mother telling her about the time she had to face off with a She Devil. The She Devil had a young man in her grip and would have turned him into a very bad person if she had her way. Suzanne's mother won in the end and took that young man under her wing. He ended up starting a big company and gave thousands of people jobs.

Suzanne looked over to the cloud the bunny angel usually lived on and saw her praying. Suzanne looked down to see what was going on and saw some kids in a roller coaster, now she knew what the bunny was praying for. She wanted the kids to get through the ride alright. Suzanne flew over to bunny's cloud and told her she was sure they would be alright. Kids road those kind of rides all the time.

Tom cat wanted to be a guardian angel for all the little cats that didn't have a home. He had already arranged several adoptions for homeless kittens and cats. None of them knew Tom cat had anything to do with it and that was alright with him. His reward was having the cats and kittens warm, happy and loved!

Today was the big day. All the young angels had to pass a test to become guardian angels. Suzanne's test was to play the large harp. She did a great job and received her guardian angel's shield and sword just like all the other guardians had. Now Suzanne had to decide who she wanted to guard. There were so many who needed help.

Suzanne was so happy that she could now be a guardian angel. The first ones she told were her bird friends. She gave her dove of peace an olive branch to carry to someone who needed it. The dove knew there would be many people he could give it to. He promised Suzanne he would try to find the one person he felt needed it the most.

Suzanne's dove flew off to find a person in need of love and Suzanne decided to do something she loved. Take a midnight swing on the moon! She always enjoyed that. Of course she had to wait for a crescent moon so the swing would work. The next morning she woke on a star. They were much more comfortable to sleep on.

When Suzanne awoke she moved to her favorite cloud where her telescope was. Looking down, she spotted a boy that she just knew needed a guardian angel. It was Danny Gilbert trying to light a bottle rocket. Danny didn't have any idea how dangerous bottle rockets could be. If you weren't very careful they could blow up right in your face!

Suzanne knew this and one other thing. Some day in the future Danny was going to discover a medical miracle that would help many thousands of people all over the world. Suzanne had to save him from hurting or killing himself. He was very important to the world. She sent her favorite dove of peace to give Danny an olive branch. Danny looked up and forgot all about the bottle rocket.

He instead went down the street and watched the parade that was going by that day. For some reason he didn't care about doing silly things like firing off bottle rockets anymore, there was something in the back of his mind he needed to think about. Danny suddenly just knew the future was going to be a better place to live, even though he didn't know why. Somewhere close by was a little guardian angel named Suzanne telling her cardinals all about it.

IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO OR WHAT YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL IS, JUST THAT YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE ONE!

IN THE YEAR 3008

2008-02-17T14:28:00.004-05:00

Dooley wasn't happy, it was Monday and he had to go to school. That meant getting his astormobile fired up and ready to go. You see, Dooley's school wasn't down the street or even across town, it was on another planet. In the year 3008 all the worlds had come together and learned to live in peace. That wasn't always easy but anything worth while never is.

When different looking creatures first started landing on new planets there wasn't always complete understanding of each other. This fellow needed directions when his space ship landed and asked a passing man for some information. When the man didn't know how to help him, he took out his pop gun and shot him. It didn't really hurt the man, just ruined his new sweater.

Things like that made everyone very nervous at first. It took a long time for people to see each how each different planet felt about different things. It was scary and even funny sometimes! The Spider Mites (as they came to be called because of their many arms and small size) from planet Pluto, were trouble makers at first.

Having so many arms, the Spider Mites were very good with all kinds of weapons. What they had to learn, like all of us do, is that most problems can be solved without ever picking up a weapon. Most of the time a good talk with people will almost always solve problems.

In this new world of all worlds, each planet had very different creatures who lived there. Some new planets were like Earth was millions of years ago. They had cavemen and women and some dinosaurs too. As a matter of fact Dooley's teacher this year was Ms. Rhiny Diny. She was a wonderful teacher but life on her planet was very different than on Dooley's.

While Dooley cruised around on his space cycle, Ms. Diny still preferred her stone mobile! Boy, the way the creatures all got around was so different and lots of fun to watch. Especially fun to see were the rovers. Planet Techtron was just that, all tech creatures. Actually they all were droids or robots of one style or another.

Mars was one of Dooley's favorites. He loved the little green men and all their rovers. They had all kinds and were lots of fun to watch. One of the cutest rovers was named Digger. Mainly because his job was to roll around and look at all the different kinds of rocks that were on what is known as the red planet.

Since Mars was one of the closest planets Dooley visited a lot, he would just put on his back pack rocket and fly off. He really enjoyed how friendly everyone on Mars was. It wasn't unusual to see the green men shaking hands with the little land rovers. No one ever argued or got into fights on Mars. They were very peaceful creatures.

Dooley thought even the green worms with purple hair on Mars were neat. All they did was sit and laugh at everything. Dooley knew it was almost time for his midterm test and that Ms. Diny was writing them up on her old Mac-a-Stone computer. She had warned all the kids the test would mostly be technical. Dooley decided he better head to Techtron to learn more about robots and machines.

It is such a neat planet. When Dooley arrived he saw robots eating green light sticks. Next, a droid walking his robot dog. Dooley loved this planet! Every where he looked were new and wonderful electronic games and machines. One of Dooley's favorite droids, was the rock droid from Mars. For years and years people wondered why they couldn't see life on Mars. Finally a little rover found the stone droids.

It was absolutely amazing when the stone droids were discovered. Suddenly, everyone realized that some of the things the Earth's telescopes had been seeing really may have been stone droids. It was a very exciting time. On Techtron, the largest group of robots were named the Cobalts, largely because of their beautiful cobalt blue color. Most of them were good working robots but like all of us, had a few occasional problems.

Thank goodness there were doctor robots who fixed the ones who had problems. One fellow had lost an arm and another was having a problem with his head spinning in circles. Talk about a headache, the poor fellow had a big one! When the Cobalts were in good working order, they were one of the best robots in all the worlds.

Back on Earth, Ms. Rhiny Diny was hiding from a robot camera she spotted. Which was taking pictures of all the creatures that went by. She was always having fun with something. During play ground time at school, she was the favorite teacher of all the children and creatures.

She would toss the kids up in the air on her big tail. They all loved that. Ms. Diny was a great hula hooper too! She could keep up with the best of them with a hula hoop. There was almost nothing the children and robot kids couldn't talk Ms. Diny into trying. One day they even had her on the play ground teeter totter.

She did a really good job balancing on that teeter totter. Some of the kids said she was good enough to be a circus star. The one thing everyone loved the most about Ms. Diny, was her wonderful personality and her jolly laugh. When Ms. Diny laughed, no one could help but laugh with her!

The children loved Ms. Diny so much they gave her a pretty yellow flower on her birthday and one of her cobalt friends even had roses for her. Ms. Diny was so surprised and please she almost had tears in her eyes. She is a very special, kind dinosaur.

Dooley got an A+ on his technology report so his parents gave him a cute robot dog he named Robo. He just thought the name fit. All the aliens, robots, creatures and people were getting along better and better everyday. The Cobalts were all back in great working condition. They were certainly impressive as they marched down the streets.

Even the Spider Mites were learning there were many more things they could do with so many arms. Like play any kind of ball! They weren't sure why but people suddenly thought of them as heroes. That was ok with the Spider Mites. They got a big money endorsement from Nike for Spider Mite tennis shoes. They decided this was much better than fighting with people!

It was getting late in the day. Most Cobalts were going to sleep. Dooley and Rover decided they should go to bed too. Up in the sky was a bright beautiful star. On it sat a sweet angel and her little angel dog. She was thinking, finally the worlds were learning to live together and the Universe was going to be wonderful. It was an exciting place to be more and more every day! After all, when golf spreads throughout the universe somethings got to be going right!

WORLDS CAN LIVE TOGETHER WHEN WE ALL EXCEPT EACH OTHER!

ABBY THE LITTLE CUPID WHO COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT

2008-02-10T14:08:00.000-05:00

Danny is sitting on his favorite cloud watching what's going on below. Valentine's Day is almost here and all the cupids are practicing with their bow and arrows. Even though Danny is a baby cupid he has been doing cupid work for a little longer than most of the others. This is Danny's second Valentine's Day and he has become pretty good with his bow and arrow. A lot of people who felt his arrows last Valentine's Day are now happily married.

Danny has his eyes on one very special little cupid, her name is Abby. This is Abby's first Valentine's Day and she is so new at being a cupid she is still learning to lift off the ground to fly. She is trying hard and practicing all the time so Danny is sure she will get the hang of it real soon. Harold, the Chief Cupid is showing everyone how to aim their arrows so they strike right at the heart.

If the arrow doesn't go right through the hearts of the couple they may not fall in love. So getting the aim just right is very important. When the cupid's arrow hits the heart, it is like having a key to unlock the heart. Abby has been watching a couple for awhile that she thinks should be together.

The young ladies name is Sabrina and the boy is named Brian. They both are college students and share a couple of classes together. They have never talked with each other but both secretly have certainly noticed each other. There is something Chief Harold tells all his young trainees about, it's called the stubborn heart. Every cupid has to watch out for those.

The stubborn heart knows when it's interested in someone but isn't willing to admit it. Brian rides his skate board to class while Sabrina likes to roller skate to class. Sabrina has noticed that Brian is always up to something. She thinks he is just goofing off most of the time. Now, Abby knows that someone with a lot of interests in things, is the kind of guy who may build a machine to help the world someday.

Abby has a strong feeling that Brian and Sabrina belong together. She has made up her mind that they will be the couple she works on this Valentine's Day! As Sabrina skated by she saw Brian had crashed a remote control plane. She just shook her head and headed on home. She had cheerleader practice that night and needed to get ready.

While Sabrina was at cheerleader practice Brian was trying out some new fireworks. It was a long time until the 4TH of July but he thought he'd get ready ahead of time. Brian was always interested in trying new things. Abby was probably right about Brian, he probably would do something brilliant one day, that is, if he lived long enough!

As Abby was on the trail of Sabrina and Brian, Danny thought he had found his couple to help have a happy Valentine's Day also. Lana and Richard worked at the same electronics company but like Sabrina and Brian, had never met one another. Well, if Danny had anything to do with it, that was about to change.

Both Lana and Richard took the same bus to work each morning because they lived near one another. While stealing a glance at each other they still sat quietly never speaking. They definitely needed Danny's help! Lana and Richard couldn't see them but when they were near each other Danny could see hearts flying all around them.

Many nights Lana would go back to her apartment and cry because she was so lonely. Richard would sit alone in his apartment and play his guitar. Danny didn't understand why people couldn't see what was right before their eyes. The animal world didn't seem to have that problem at all. They found a mate and many stayed with them for life.

There is of course puppy love but what about hissy snake love? How about that hug, huh? Kitty love and a bear with beautiful roses. Do you think that is where the expression bear hug came from? I bet he gets one tonight! We have love doves under a pretty heart and even dopples in love!

Suddenly Abby saw her chance to fire on Sabrina and Brian. It was a direct hit on both hearts. Of course Sabrina and Brian didn't feel anything except a warm glow that spread over each of them and a need to go see the other one. Brain stopped by a flower store and bought a bunch of beautiful roses. Then headed straight for Sabrina's home.

When Sabrina saw the beautiful roses she blew Brian a little kiss. They talked and decided to go out and get something to eat. Abby's plans seemed to be right on schedule! She thought she'd go by and see how Danny was doing with Lana and Richard.

Abby was surprised to find a shy Danny with a heart of candy for her! Abby was so happy. She knew that she was interested in Danny but didn't know he felt the same way. The candy was so good they shared some and talked about how things were going with their Valentine's Day lovers.

Danny told Abby he was so happy he had hit his mark this morning and got right to Lana and Richards hearts, just before the bus arrived to take them to work. Before the bus got there, they were sitting a lot closer together and even holding hands.

Danny also told Abby about another success he had. A man and woman he knew would be together forever because their hearts were locked in the jail of love. When that happens, you have found the love of your life! Those are the luckiest people of all!

You see love doesn't depend on age. It doesn't matter if you are young and newly weds or older folks who have been married for many years. What matters is, you are lucky when you have someone in your life to share everything with, even your secrets. Most of all you have a person who loves you more than their own life and would try to protected you against everything.

This time Brian showed up with a sweet teddy bear that Sabrina liked so well, she slept with it every night. Brian was so happy Sabrina liked his gift so much. When Danny checked back with Brian and Sabrina he found they were fast falling in love. Of course that didn't mean Brian was still not experimenting with new things all the time. Sabrina was learning to except that side of Brian.

Sabrina realized Brian wasn't going to change and that was all right with her. She knew he was going to be a very special man some day. Sabrina planned to stick around and see how he helped change things for people because she was proud of him and knew he would make a difference in a lot of peoples lives.

Danny and Abby had taken off their wings to enjoy themselves. Even cupids fall in love and who knows more about love than cupids? What an excellent job they had done this year helping people to find love! By this time next year, when Valentine's Day arrives Abby and Danny will both be experts! A lot of you people, who think love will never find you better look out, two little cupids will be out there who may change your lives forever!

A HEART THAT BUBBLES OVER IS A LIFE THAT'S FULL OF LOVE!

PETUNIA PIG'S BIG BIRTHDAY PARTY!

2008-02-02T20:18:00.001-05:00

Petunia is the sweetest little pig anyone has ever known. She lives on a farm near the beautiful city of Asheville, North Carolina. Farmer Joe Jackson owns the farm and has many animals. He loves them all but Petunia is a favorite of his because she is so sweet. Each spring farmer Joe has a petting zoo he sets up on the farm and invites all the families to bring their children and have a fun day on the farm. Every family always leaves with a huge juicy watermelon and a box of beautiful strawberries. Farmer Joe was everyone's favorite person because he was so sharing and kind.

Farmer Joe and his farm hand Arnie where known as the best farmers in the area. With the juiciest watermelons and sweetest strawberries. None of their guests left without some. Arnie would bring out some of the animals and show the families and children around. All farmer Joe's animals were so gentle, he never worried about a child being hurt. Most animals end up just the way they are treated and Joe and Arnie were very good and kind to them.

Arnie would bring out their horse Hee Haw, it was a pet name farmer Joe had given him when he was just a baby. Hee Haw loved the children, who doesn't love being hugged and petted. Hee Haw would give the kids rides around the farm and they all loved that. Betsy, the cow loved the petting too and always got plenty of it from the kids.

The farm was very pretty with a wind mill on a hill top and beautiful green acres all around. The little black and white sheep always got a lot of attention because they were sisters but two different colors. When you pet them they were very soft and cuddly, not to mention very cute! Today though was Petunia's BIG day. As soon as she heard the rooster crow that morning she jumped right out of bed.

Today after all, was Petunia's birthday and Farmer Joe and Arnie had a big party planned for her. There was nothing Petunia enjoyed more than a party, especially when it was for her! She had her party hat on first thing that morning and was ready to go. Joe and Arnie had lots of fun things planned for her party. Petunia, like all the animals on the farm was a little bit spoiled. She was treated so well.

Some of the kids were keeping an eye on a big chocolate cake in the middle of the table. There was more than enough cake to go around for everyone. On another table was a strawberry frosted pink cake with party hats all around it and candles burning. The farm had two orange Tabby cats named Muffet and Tuffet.

Muffet was so excited she couldn't stop clapping. She had her very own cupcake sitting right in front of her. Tuffet was busy blowing his party whistle. Joe and Arnie had ordered A LOT of pizzas for the party from Mr. Luigi's pizza parlor. Mr. Luigi was very happy. This was the biggest order he had all year. He had to call in extra help to get all the pizzas baked.

People loved to watch Mr. Luigi spin the pizza dough, he was an expert. He was so happy he was spinning and singing all day. The young people who worked for Mr. Luigi, learned from the best and took a lot of pride in the pizzas they made. Everyone agreed they were the best pizza they had ever eaten.

Mr. Luigi was carting the pizza dough to his workers as fast as he could, singing all the while. He even had to pull the large pizza delivery van out of the garage because the normal cars the delivery boys used weren't going to be big enough to handle this large order! He called in his best delivery boy Timmy. He could handle this huge order.

When Timmy started unloading those pizzas the whole house smelled wonderful. Joe and Arnie had gotten every kind of pizza Mr. Luigi makes, so all the kids and their parents could choose their favorite flavor. Next, it was time for games. The kids decided on pin the tail on the donkey. There was only one problem...

The only donkey around was Dooley and he was a live donkey. He was not about to cooperate with this game! Alex who had been trying to pin the tail on Dooley thought he'd switch to the pinata. Besides he wasn't really going to put a pin in Dooley, he liked him to much. The pinata was hanging from the ceiling full of candy. Alex had his bat and was going to take the first swing at the pinata.

Alex found out it wasn't as easy as he had thought. He would swing and swing and nothing seemed to be there. All the kids were cheering and blowing there party whistles to help Alex along. Finally Alex got a solid hit and candy started going everywhere. The kids were laughing and with their party cups picking up candy as fast as they could.

Every child ended up with a full cup of great candy! This was a party both the children and their parents would remember for a long time. Harley, Alex's dad was a great guy that everyone in town liked because he was funny and a great guy, always helping people out with any problem. Boy, could he eat though. He was at the party with Alex and seemed to be inhaling food!

Boomer and Oscar are Joe's dogs and were having a hard time waiting for some cake. To tell the truth, the kids were ready too and many of the parents as well! One little girl had been reaching for a chocolate cake on the table most of the afternoon. Joe saw this and said "let's have cake everyone while we watch Petunia open her presents."

There was a large bunch of presents! Petunia was liked by everyone. She was always so sweet with the children each year when Joe had his petting zoo. There were beautiful presents everywhere. Some with pretty heart balloons and others with many different colors. Petunia was ready to dig in and start opening them right away!

Petunia's best friend Daisy was dancing and having a ball watching Petunia open her presents. Deep down inside she couldn't wait for some of that cake too! Petunia got some great presents and people started getting ready to head for home. Some of the people were getting ready to leave and Joe made sure they had extra cake and pizza to take with them. It was a great day and everyone had a wonderful time.

The parents toasted Joe and Arnie for such a terrific day and thanked them for everything. The children all had such fun that day they were already looking forward to next years petting zoo and Petunia's birthday party. This was certainly a day that none of the children would ever forget. Before they left though, their was one very important thing they must do.

Sing a big happy birthday song to Petunia! Daisy was ready to sing and help Petunia take all her nice presents back to the barn. See, one of the nice thing about having a best friend is you get to share all her stuff. Last, but not least, they got to watch Petunia get to do what she had waited all day long to do. EAT THE WHOLE CHOCOLATE CAKE JOE HAD MADE JUST FOR HER!

KINDNESS TO OTHERS ALWAYS COMES BACK TO YOU IN THE END!

THE ISLAND OF ALURA'S MISSING CHEST OF GOLD

2008-01-27T13:10:00.000-05:00

As the ocean water lapped on the beach, off at a distance two pirate ships could be seen sailing toward shore. One ship was owned by Captain Jack, not the most honest person at sea. The other by pirate Princess Miranda, the owner of a chest of gold that had been stolen from the island of Alura where she lived. Miranda was out to try and find her chest of gold but a lot of other pirates and people had heard about it too. Many were trying to find it for themselves. When a lot of money is involved, it can bring out the bad side of some people.

We've met our friend Tommy Cat and his buddy Pudgly before. Tommy Cat was so surprised to hear about the chest of gold that he had to tell Pudgly right away! If you remember Tommy Cat, he is always in the middle of everything going on. Needless to say he couldn't wait to try and help find the gold. Tommy Cat was a good fellow though, he only wanted to give it back to Princess Miranda. He didn't want it for himself!

Tommy Cat started practicing his martial arts and went out looking for a new pirate outfit. He thought if he was going to deal with pirates, he should look like one. Pudgly kind of grinned when he saw Tommy Cat and thought to himself that Tommy may have over done it a little bit. The patch on the eye and hook for a hand was probably a little much. He would never tell Tommy Cat though, because he would never hurt his friends feelings.

Princess Miranda was a beautiful lady. Her family had ruled the island of Alura for many years and had to get back the gold to help all the people who lived on the Island. With the gold they bought food and clothing for all the people of Alura. Princess Miranda had a handsome pirate boy friend named Dante. He had come along to help Miranda with all the wicked people who wanted the gold for themselves.

Besides Captain Jack and his parrot Harley, there was the meanest villain of all in the town were Tommy Cat lived. His name was Montague, a truly mean and sneaky man. He was always listening for any news or gossip. When he heard about the missing chest of gold he knew he had to have it. He ran back to his house to get on his computer and see if anyone knew where the gold was.

Montague knew a lot of other bad people, so he got on his computer and e-mailed them to see if anyone knew the location of the chest. It was no surprise that he heard from Pirate Jim another not very nice person. He sent a map to Montague showing where he had heard the chest was located. The two said they would both look for it and share the gold if either of them found it.

Princess Miranda's best friend was her talking parrot, Huey. He went with Miranda wherever she went. Miranda's father had given her Huey when she was just a little girl. Miranda had taught him to talk as well as any human. He and Miranda loved each other very much. Huey always tried to look out for her safety. Huey could even sword fight with the very best!

Huey had heard that Captain Jack had the gold on his ship. Huey told Miranda he would fly out to spy on Captain Jack's ship and see if he could spot the chest. Miranda told Huey to be very careful. If something happened to her Huey it would break her heart! He promised he would and off he flew.

When Huey flew over, he could see Captain Jack at the wheel. He flew all around the boat then all of a sudden there it was, the Island of Alura's chest of gold! Huey could hardly wait to get back to shore to tell Miranda. As he passed over the shore he saw pirate Jim sneaking around with a CD he was holding tightly. Huey had no way to know it had the location of the gold chest on it.

As pirate Jim took his CD back to his home to hide it, his friend Montague was trying to bomb Captain Jacks ship. He had set up a rocket bomb and was pushing the button as Huey flew over. When the bomb went off, Captain Jack thought it was Princess Miranda's ship firing their cannons on him so he turned his ship to aim back at them.

The cannons shot out of Captain Jack's ship and Miranda ordered her gunners to fire back. Luckily for both ships, the cannons were not very accurate, so they all missed each other. Thank goodness it was almost night time and the firing of cannons had to stop because they could not begin to aim correctly at each other in the dark.

The town lighthouse was lighting the shore line enough for Dante to swim out to Captain Jack's ship. He grabbed hold of a rope hanging over the edge of the ship and pulled himself up. In the dark, no one saw him as he slipped over the rail and onto the ship. Dante quietly looked around the ship that night and finally found the chest of gold.

He waited for day break and then slipped back off the ships gang plank and swam back to shore. Once he got back to shore he got out his telescope and looked out to Captain Jack's ship. All looked quite, he didn't think anyone was even aware he had been there. One thing was for sure, he was going to have to get help and go back to get Alura's gold!

Meanwhile, Montague was trying some different types of bombs but wasn't having any luck, nothing was happening. He must be doing something wrong. You see Montague was a real bad villain but no one had ever said he was very smart. He was lucky because if his bombs had blown up, he was the only one who would have been hurt!

Dante got everyone together who wanted to help Princess Miranda get her Island's gold back. They got on a small boat that would be hard to see from the huge ship Captain Jack was on and rowed out to his ship. With him was Tommy Cat and Huey, as well as a large number of the town people who wanted to help.

They had to fight a lot of Captains Jack's mates. Even Pudgly the mighty dog flew in to help. When the fight was over. The chest of gold was back on the boat with Dante and the whole crew headed for shore. When they all got back some wanted their picture taken with the chest of gold.

Tommy Cat of course wanted a picture to take home to his mom. He was proud he had been able to help save the gold for the people of Alura. Princess Miranda thanked everyone who helped to save her Island and it's people. She promised to never forget any of them. Miranda said she would always know they were her friends and invited them all to visit Alura.

A few people like Montague were not happy. He had wanted all the gold for himself. Someone finally called the police and told them about his bombing attempts. They took him to jail and put him in a line up. He is such a bad guy he kept pointing to the little old lady next to him acting like she was the guilty one. What an awful guy he is. It didn't work, so they threw him in jail and he was likely to stay there for a long time!

As Miranda and Dante sailed off with the chest of gold they had one extra guest. While in Tommy Cat's town, Huey had met a lady parrot and fallen in love. Her name was Susie and she was ready to spend the rest of her life with Huey. Looks like there would be two weddings soon on the Island. Probably on the same day.

Pudgly had gone home and now Tommy Cat was back at his house looking for his mom to let him in. He couldn't wait to tell her all about his big adventure. There she was and boy was she glad to see him. She loved Tommy Cat a bunch! She worried a lot about him because she didn't always know what he was up to. After all, with the adventures of Tommy Cat, the next time we see him he might come flying in on a different kind of ship, like one from Outer Space!! You never know about Tommy Cat!

TOMMY CAT WOULD SAY, "WHAT'S LIFE IF YOU CAN'T HAVE A LITTLE FUN?"

DIGBY 'S MAGICAL GARDEN TOUCH

2008-01-19T12:41:00.000-05:00

Digby, the little garden gnome, had one best friend who could also be a terrible pest sometimes. His name was Sparky and he belonged to Allison Baxter. Sparky just loved Digby and played around him all the time. He would sniff Digby and when no one was looking Digby would swat at Sparky. The truth was, Digby really liked Sparky and was glad to have him around so he wasn't lonely.

Digby had just recently made Allison's yard his home. Allison had spotted Digby at a garden store and bought him to put in her garden. Allison had never had much luck with flowers and gardening so she hoped that the cute garden gnome would make her yard look a little bit nicer this year. Poor Allison would stand and look over the fence into her neighbor Sue Ellen's yard and wonder why even Sue Ellen's grass looked nicer than hers.

Allison decided to go all out and really try hard this year to have a pretty yard and garden. She got her hose out and started watering everything. Allison had a pet rabbit named Fluffy, who lived in her yard and told her he would help with the vegetable garden. Guess what the first thing he planted was, your right, carrots of course, his favorite food.

Nancy, another friend and neighbor of Allison's told her she would do some reading about gardening and help give Allison some advice. Of course the very first thing she learned was how important water is to plants. With out it, nothing, not even people could live. The best water for plants is natural rain water.

You will find the people who are smiling a lot when it's raining are great gardeners and very happy when it rains! One of the very first plants that come up in early spring are the crocus. Allison planted some very pretty ones by her porch. The next thing she planted were sunflower seeds in pots. She intended to transplant them into the garden when they started to grow.

Sunflowers are loved by most people. They are a lot of fun to grow and watch. As the sun moves across the sky each day the sun flower follows it. They need a lot of sun and will be facing east in the morning when the sun rises and west at night as the sun goes down. That's how they got their name sunflower. Birds love the seeds of the sunflower also. There are many good reasons to have sunflowers in your yard.

Late at night Sparky would sometimes start barking and Allison couldn't figure out why. What she didn't know was that Digby would come to life and walk through her garden sprinkling a little magic dust around. The next morning she could almost see that the plants had grown over night!. Fluffy had planted more vegetables and they were also looking very good.

Fluffy's broccoli was some of the best looking in town. He had wonderful watermelon and corn plus fruit of all types. As summer went on Allison's garden got better and better. The only thing she couldn't figure out is who was moving her garden gnome around. She would get up one day and he would be in the vegetable garden, then the next over by the flowers.

Fluffy the bunny and Sparky knew what was going on but nobody else did. Digby even tried to take one of Fluffy's biggest, nicest carrots. Finally Fluffy let Digby have the carrot. He figured he deserved it for the magic dust he kept spreading around. Digby really enjoyed that carrot, it was delicious! After eating it, he went back to spreading more magic dust.

Sue Ellen's daughter, Amy, stopped to smell the beautiful flowers in Allison's garden. Her mother had her head all the way out the window of her van looking at Allison's beautiful yard and garden as she drove by. She couldn't believe how pretty it was and she was very happy for Allison because she knew how hard she had worked on it.

The vegetable garden was more than Fluffy could have ever dreamed of. Juicy watermelons, fruits and yummy looking vegetables of all kinds. Allison had so much she could never eat it all herself so she shared with all her neighbors. Digby, Sparky and Fluffy were so happy for Allison, she walked around with a big smile on her face all the time.

Allison offered Sue Ellen her choice any of the vegetables she would like to have. There was a big selection. A cute family of carrots, a fancy decked out carrot, a bunch of carrots even a cool carrot with his sunglasses on. Corn on the cob with a knife and fork all ready to be eaten. Even big juicy looking strawberries. Sue Ellen finally settled on the cute carrot family. She loved the bows in the mom and babies carrot tops.

Late that night Digby got his friend Toadly to take him all over the garden. By the next morning flowers were blooming all over the garden and every fruit and vegetable was ripe. It was the most beautiful and lush garden in the whole town. Allison gave David a bouquet of flowers for Amy it was her birthday and David was her boyfriend. Amy thought they were the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen!

Nancy jogged by Allison's everyday and was amazed at how wonderful her garden had turned out. Allison sent her home with a huge basket of fruit and vegetables. Nancy would be eating for days and days with all this wonderful food. Allison had given her so many tomatoes, she even made some tomato juice and ketchup out of some of them.

This was the best tomato juice she had ever tasted and so was the ketchup. There is just nothing better than home made. Allison had also invited Nancy and all her neighbors to a party to share her wonderful crop of food and flowers with all of them.

Allison chopped peppers and onions for her favorite chip dip recipe. By the time her neighbors started to arrive she had a table loaded down with the most wonderful food any of them had ever seen. As they talked and enjoyed the food, many of them commented on the cute little gnome she had placed in her yard. Allison told them about how she thought someone was joking with her because they moved him to a different position in the garden every night.

Next morning Digby was near the apple tree in Allison's yard. All the apples had ripened and were beautiful. Even the tree was having a taste of one of it's own apples. Then Allison spotted one real bad apple, he was quite a dude or at least he thought so! Allison thought she was going to have great apple pies all winter from this tree.

Sparky was teasing Digby again. He would act like he was going to use the bathroom near Digby. Poor Digby would point out the nearest tree to him. Sparky and Digby were really very good friends. Allison was watering the daisies and noticed Sparky was almost always in the same part of the yard that Digby was in. She figured Sparky thought of Digby as a toy.

Sue Ellen's husband, Harry, stopped by that day to get some roses from Allison. That night was his and Sue Ellen's wedding anniversary. He was so proud when he gave Sue Ellen the roses. She said they were the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen. Allison could probably win blue ribbons for many of her roses.

Allison ran herself a warm bath and put on her tea pot to warm. It was turning chilly outside and Allison thought it wouldn't be long before winter was coming. She thought how she'd miss her garden but she knew she would have the spring to look forward to and everything would come back new and even better again.

Just a few short weeks later Allison heard Sparky barking loudly outside. She looked out the window and saw him standing by a sad, cold looking Digby in the snow. Allison grabbed her coat and ran out and scooped Digby up. She carried him in and set him on one side of the roaring fireplace in her living room where he would stay until spring. Sparky laid down on the other side. Allison sat in her comfortable chair, drank her tea with her two favorite things by her side. She thought of the next spring and all the beautiful new flowers and vegetables they would have. It was going to be another great year!

MAYBE THERE IS A LITTLE TOUCH OF MAGIC IN EVERYTHING WE DO WELL!

THE SECRET OF THE GENIE'S THREE WISHES

2008-01-13T15:32:00.001-05:00

We all have people we look up to, teachers, parents and friends. People we respect and trust the advice they give us. Since I am a person who believes in Fairy tales, if only in my imagination, I think we also have many wise Fairy tale characters as well. Like Omar the King of the Genies. Omar is by far the wisest of all genies. After all he is the oldest genie on earth, which means he has lived for thousands of years. Anyone who has lived that long has learned a lot! Omar guides and teaches them all the proper rules of being a genie. There are many things necessary to learn before a young genie can grant wishes and Omar is the one who trains them all.

Omar and all his genies live in the Enchanted Kingdom. They try to keep all of the people and creatures who live there safe from harm. Even in the Enchanted Kingdom, things don't always go as Omar would hope. He has to be on guard at all times to watch over everyone. Sometimes, like on this day, things can still go very wrong...

Sudanny was the youngest of all the genies and has a lot to learn. He was so excited to grant his first wishes. Omar was trying to keep a close watch on him to prevent any major mistakes. The art of granting wishes took a lot of education and was not as simple as it might seem. There were rules to follow and Omar needed to help Sudanny learn them.

In the kingdom where the genies lived, were two beautiful princesses. The youngest, Sabrina, had fallen in love with a prince from a neighboring kingdom named Prince Henry. Sabrina's older sister, Princess Lalana, was engaged to a Knight on the King's Guard. Two of the princesses favorite pets were their dragons, Ruby and Ernie.

Ruby was a cute little red dragon and Ernie was a green dragon. They liked to cause each other problems when they could. They were like brother and sister always picking on each other. Underneath it all (though they would never admit it) they both really liked each other. Like all of us, there are some things dragons just naturally do, and can't stop even if they want to.

Like breathing fire. It's just something they can't control. Making good things out of bad though, Ruby has found a good use for her fire breathing skills. She can Bar-B-Que the best hot dogs in town! Ruby is very fond of Patrick, Princess Lalana's Knight in shining armor! Ruby has known Patrick since she was just a little dragon and Patrick has always been kind to her. They have shared more than one hot dog together.

Omar was worried, he had been watching things coming in the future in his crystal ball. He could see that Sudanny was about to have some trouble. Omar's crystal ball was a wonderful thing to have. He could see the future for days and sometimes years to come in it. He also had a very special helper above. Her name was Angela and she was an angel who helped watch over everyone below and tell Omar when she saw trouble coming.

Angela would send down letters to Omar, delivered by one of her favorite birds. Angela and Omar saw a bad man who had just stolen Sudanny's lamp. He wanted to get Sudanny to grant him three wishes. Damal was the robbers name and he didn't know one very important thing! Anyone can rub a lamp and bring out a genie, but not everyone will have their three wishes come true. There are three special rules that must be met first.

Sudanny came out of the lamp for Damal but right away he knew this man wasn't going to get his wishes granted. The one rule Sudanny already had been taught by Omar was the person who gets his wishes granted must be a good, honest person. Sudanny knew Damal had stolen him from the Princess Lalana, so that meant he wasn't a good person. Damal was so mad he put Sudanny in a cage in the basement of his friend Medusa's house and locked the door. The first secret of the three wishes was to be a good person.

When Princess Lalana heard that Sudanny had been stolen she almost fainted. Patrick carried her to her room and told her he would go out and find Sudanny. Patrick asked Ernie if he would fly him around the kingdom because Ruby wasn't there that day. Ernie said sure he would, he liked Sudanny too and didn't want anything to happen to him. Princess Lalana waved goodbye to them as they flew away.

Like everywhere in the world, most of the people and creatures in the kingdom were very good. Patrick knew he and Ernie had to be careful because the magic of the safe castle no longer protected them and a few bad creatures also were in the kingdom. One, had her eyes on the sky right now watching Ernie and Patrick fly in. It was Medusa, a creature that looked a lot like a snake and a lady, except instead of hair she had snakes on her head.

Medusa went to her mirror to look as good as she could. She thought she was beautiful but everyone else said that she was so ugly that if you looked at her you would turn to stone. She had always wanted a statue of a Knight in shining armor so now was her chance. When Ruby got back to the castle and heard what was going on, she flew right off to help Patrick and Ernie.

Medusa had a great helper, a huge Minotaur, who was like a bull with a mans body. Medusa felt sure he could deliver Patrick to her. When Ruby landed in the town a friend told him that Sudanny was at Medusa's. Ruby told Patrick and right away he wanted to go and get Sudanny. Ruby tried to stop him by holding his feet but Patrick got away from him and off he went to Medusa's.

Suddenly a strange feeling came over Sudanny, his heart was full of love and caring for everyone. Then he realized it was the second lesson of the three wishes. Omar was using the lightning bolts between his fingers to send Sudanny the second message. Sudanny understood right away. The person who's wishes are granted must have love in his or her heart and have done some kind things for others. The second secret of the three wishes was love!

As Angela watched from above she got worried when she saw Princess Sabrina and Prince Henry head for town. They had also decided to help try to find Sudanny. Angela knew Medusa would love to get her hands on a Prince and Princess. Sure enough the next thing she saw was Minotaur carrying off Princess Sabrina! Medusa and Minotaur started fighting over who would get Knight Patrick.

During the fight with Patrick, Prince Henry showed up and he forgot the warnings about Medusa and looked her in the face. Poor Prince Henry immediately started turning to stone. Medusa was so pleased, she was finally going to have her statue of a Prince. Slowly he could feel himself turning to stone. What could Ruby and Ernie do. They decided they had to find Sudanny and see if he could grant them three wishes. It was their only hope!

As Prince Henry turned completely to stone Medusa polished him. Ruby and Ernie slipped down to the basement and found Sudanny. Ruby told him to get back in the lamp where he would be safe. Next Ruby blew fire on the lock until it melted and Sudanny was free of the cage. He was so happy to be free. He promised both Ruby and Ernie three wishes when he got back to the castle and Omar gave him the last secret rule.

Before Sudanny would go back to the castle he had a score to settle with Damal. He found him and picked him up and shook him around for awhile until he agreed never to steal anything again and to be a better person. Since he had heard about Omar and Angela he knew he would have to behave because they are always watching.

This time Princess Lalana was going to take care of Patrick. She was so happy to have him home. Ernie and Ruby flew back to the castle and felt right at home again. They were kind of excited about getting their three wishes. Surprisingly, they talked about it and both seemed to want the same thing. They hoped Sudanny had learned the third secret to granting wishes!

Without any help from Omar, Sudanny had learned the third secret to getting three wishes. It was to be the kind of person who will do things for others even if it could be dangerous for them. The third secret was to care about another more than yourself. Ernie liked that thought a lot and blew Sudanny some smoke hearts. Sudanny granted Ruby and Ernie's three wishes and Omar approved them.

As Ernie typed up the three wishes for both himself and Ruby, he kept thinking he could hear a bell ringing far away. The list was short, both he and Ruby asked for a wedding for Princess Lalana and Sabrina and happiness forever. They asked for the kingdom to be rid of Medusa and her friends. Next they did ask for a little something for themselves, a chest full of gold which Ernie promised to guard. Ruby and Ernie were kind and gentle dragons but they sure weren't dumb!

KINDNESS AND GOODNESS WILL ALWAYS WIN OUT OVER EVIL!

THE MUNCHKIN TEAM OF PLEASANTVILLE

2008-01-07T22:46:00.001-05:00

The person who gave the town of Pleasantville its name sure got it right. This small town is nestled in a valley among huge scenic mountains in Montana. In the summer months you can still look up and see snow on the mountain tops. Winter months offer the best of all winter sports and views most people only see on Christmas cards.

Mr. Harvey owns a shoe store in Pleasantville and most people in town go to him for shoes. There are lots of big Malls around town but Mr. Harvey had his own little store long before the Malls came along. He has built up a huge following of families who would not buy their shoes anywhere else. He is a special person, so kind and has such a great personality that he is loved by all. Mr. Harvey also knows just the right new styles of shoes to get in. Today he is helping Rebecca get some very special pink tennis shoes she has wanted very badly!

Lisa wanted a pair also but her mother told her she couldn't have them until she started doing better at getting her chores done at home. She cried pretty hard but decided her mom was right and promised to try harder. She told her friend Cindy she was going to work real hard and get her room all cleaned up by the weekend.

It was early fall in Pleasantville. The weather was wonderful, bright sunny days and clear nights just warm enough to still be comfortable with just a jacket. Jamal and his family had come to town to visit with friends of theirs. He had been here several times and had made many good friends. He and Rebecca were having fun in a big pile of fall leaves. Then along came Tamara, she's Jamal's little sister, to tell him it was time for lunch.

Jamal had borrowed his friend Bobbie's bike and did wheelies back to his house for lunch. He and Tamara were having a great time staying with Bobbie's family. They were excited too, because the fair would be in town the next weekend. All the kids in town were looking forward to that. Mr. Harvey, the shoe store man, had nicknamed the town kids the Munchkin Team and he liked all of them.

A couple of the Munchkins decided to ride their scooters down to the fair ground and watch the rides being set up. When the guys got to the fair grounds the big rig trucks were just pulling in to the fair grounds, loaded with huge rides. Some were in peaces and would have to be put together. Another friend, David, came riding up on his bike to watch. The kids were all very excited about the fair coming to town.

Meanwhile back in town, Fred was putting the finishing touches on his soapbox car. When Jamal was in town, he and Fred always had a soapbox race. As Fred was working, Danny the neighborhood paper boy went by dropping off the newspapers. Inside was a big ad reminding people that the fair would be that weekend. Fred thought, everyone in town would probably go.

The race was on! Down the hill went Fred and Jamal. At the bottom Jamal was all alone. He looked back and saw that Fred had a wheel come loose and had an accident. Jamal ran back up to see if Fred was alright. Fred was a little light headed but wasn't really hurt. Jamal was so glad, Fred was a real special friend of his. Jamal walked Fred home just to make sure he was OK.

Bobbie's trampoline was something Jamal always had fun on. He was getting more and more excited about the fair. Tomorrow was the first day and he could hardly wait. Bobbie's mom was reading an old book called "Alice in Wonderland" to Susan, Bobbie's sister. Their mom hoped it would keep Susan's mind off the fair also.

Tamara was sitting by them also listening to the story. With her was Bun Bun, her rabbit, who went with her everywhere she went. Tamara liked the part where Alice stepped through the looking glass and chased a rabbit until she fell right down the rabbit's hole. At the bottom she met all kinds of strange and different characters.

Susan could picture in her mind Alice coming through the mirror and chasing the rabbit. Her favorite part though was when Alice was falling down the rabbit hole. Unfortunately, it make her think of some of the great rides she was going to be on at the fair the next day. Her poor mother had been hoping to keep her mind off the fair and the story just made her think about it more!

Oh well, she tried and after all "Alice in Wonderland" is by far one of the greatest children's stories ever told. Tamara had not heard it before and was just amazed by the story. She wanted her mom to get the book as soon as she got back home. Susan and Tamara had lots of fun learning how to curtsy like Alice. They were so cute, Susan's mom wished little girls still curtsied like they used to.

Mr. Harvey was selling more shoes than ever. It seemed everyone wanted them for the fair. Whatever it was, it was making Mr. Harvey a happy man. Besides, he loved seeing all his Munchkin Team. He knew he would see them all at the fair! The first thing you saw coming into the fair was the pretty ferris wheel, loaded with people who could see the whole fair grounds from the top.

You could even see the roller coaster from the top of the ferris wheel. Almost everyone wanted to ride the roller coaster. Many people rode it over and over again. The next big hit for people who could keep their lunch down was the swing around. It literally swung people upside down. Only the bravest people rode this one!

Lisa had not gone to the fair yet. She had done a great job cleaning her room though. Her mother called her to the kitchen and handed her a present. It was her pink shoes, that she wanted so bad. She was so happy, now she would have them to wear to the fair. Lisa's favorite ride was the roller coaster. She loved speeding down the tracks. She thanked her mother and told her she was the best mom in the world!

The beautiful carousal was the perfect ride for young and old. Tamara loved to ride the horses as they moved up and down. Then there was the strong man game where all the show off guys tried to look tough in front of their girlfriends. Not to many got that bell to ring. Most walked away a little red in the face.

The bumper cars are always a big hit. Who wouldn't love to ride around and around bumping into other cars all in fun and no one ever gets hurt. They are lots of fun! It seems everyone likes bumper cars. There were teenagers, grandmas and grandpas all riding the bumper cars. Mr. Harvey had stopped by the fair and took a ride in the bumper cars too.

A terrific jazz band was playing and hundreds of people were dancing and listening. Mr. Harvey did a little jig himself. Lisa and Susan saw him and thought he was very good. While Mr. Harvey was at the fair he saw almost all of his Munchkin Team. Every time he turned around someone, a parent or child was saying hi to him. It was a wonderful feeling to have so many friends!

A favorite with most of the kids are the inflatable jumping castle and slide. Unless someone lands on top of someone else, it's almost impossible to get hurt and lots of fun! Parents love them too. They can sit on the benches and have a cool drink and rest up while the children play. Now Angela is a very smart girl. She chose a site right by the inflatable toys to set up her lemonade stand.

Angela was making a bundle of money off those tired, thirsty parents resting and watching their kids. Mr. Harvey even had some and sat down to talk to some folks he knew. He said he was going to offer Angela a job at his store as soon as she was old enough. She certainly was smart and a hard worker.

One thing that is always wonderful at a fair is the food. For some reason the food never tastes better anywhere else. From burgers, cotton candy and huge suckers everything tastes great. This was the final day of the fair and the fair grounds were packed with people. No one seemed to want it to end. Finally the time came and the Munchkin Team and their parents filed out and headed for home. They had all had a wonderful time.

The next day Jamal, Tamara and their parents had to leave for home. Jamal's school would be starting the next week. They had such a wonderful time with Bobbie's family that they decided to come back next year when the fair was on again. At closing last night they gave all the kids sparklers and shot off some really pretty fireworks. Jamal told Bobbie "he sure could see why the town had been named Pleasantville."

YOU'LL ALWAYS FIND YOUR HEART WHERE YOU FRIENDS AND FAMILY ARE!

TWAS THE NIGHT AFTER CHRISTMAS & SANTA HAD A PROBLEM!

2007-12-30T21:32:00.000-05:00

Looks like now that Christmas is over Santa is heading south. Santa must get pretty tired of all the snow just like most of us would. He is planning on getting some sunshine and doing all the fun things that come with warm weather. Santa likes the snow sports and games too. He is a great ice skater and loves to sled down the hills near his North Pole home. He has just had a lot of snow by the time Christmas is over and needs a warm weather break.

When it comes to skiing, Santa is one of the very best. After all just imagine how many years he has had to practice. Right now the "Days Until Xmas" calendar is blank. That means Santa, the reindeer and all the elves are on a long vacation. They have all worked so hard and are definitely ready for some time off!

Santa's elves are out having a great time sledding down the snow covered hills. It's hard to imagine how hard they have worked all year to make all those toys for children around the world! They certainly need and deserve some time off to have fun. They will feel more like making great toys for next year if they get some rest.

When Santa and the reindeer fly off on Christmas Eve, the poor elves are just about worn out. Very few people in the world work as hard as they do. Some of the elves take a long nap, while others play with some of the left over toys. One thing's for sure, they all love their work. Who else in the world could make so many children happy?

After Santa's big night, he was catching up on some badly needed sleep too. Mrs. Claus and some of the elves were taking down the Christmas ornaments to be packed away for next year. Santa was so tired he started to have a bad dream. He dreamed he lost his job delivering toys at Christmas and saw himself looking for a new job.

Poor Santa dreamed he had to stand on a corner holding a sign that said he would work for cookies. How awful it would be if Santa didn't have his cookies on Christmas Eve! Then he dreamed he became a rapper to make cookie money for him and Mrs. Claus. That was enough to wake Santa with a scare! He just didn't think he would make a good rapper.

Mr. Penguin, the official bell ringer, was already sitting on a beach in Florida sunning himself. Even Frosty was enjoying the warm weather. Of course he knew he wouldn't last long in this sunshine. Frosty could always count on some nice kids to put him back together again every winter. He was kind of like Santa Claus, he just seemed to show up every year.

Poor Santa, all his helpers were on a sunny beach and he was having nightmares about working for cookies. All he wanted was to relax and have one of those cute little drinks with an umbrella in it. Then suddenly the worst of the worst happened! Santa received an e-mail from his head elf telling him a little boy named Daniel Tyler, who had been extra good all year, had not received his Christmas gift!

Santa remembered the letter from Daniel. You see the song really is true, "he can see you when your sleeping and knows when you're awake." He even remembered meeting Daniel at a Shopping Mall and receiving his letter. Santa patted Daniel on his head and told him how proud he was of him for being such a good boy all year. He knew Daniel deserved the present he wanted and he planned to see that he got it.

Everyone who was still left at the North Pole sprang back into action. This was something Santa just couldn't let happen. The Chief Elf was getting everyone back into action. This problem had to be fixed! It also had to be done before New Years Eve. Santa had never had a failure before and he wasn't about to start now!

Santa was up against the 2008 hour glass and the sand was moving quickly through. As the old saying goes, "Time waits for no one." Even the Baby New Year was marching right along. So everyone pulled together and got to work. If they could get out millions of toys on Christmas Eve, they could get out one, even with just a few of the crew to help.

The first thing Santa had to do was to find that letter from Daniel. He remembered Daniel wanted a race car track but it was important for Santa to know what kind. Finally Mrs. Claus found Santa's famous checklist that tells him who's been naughty or nice and what they want for Christmas. There, under the T's, was Daniel Tyler and the race set he wanted for Christmas.

Now the hunt was on to find Daniel's race track. Santa asked everyone to help. All the elves and other helpers pitched in to find the special gift for Daniel. They had a lot of presents to go through that were already started for next Christmas. There were some, like one elf found, that still needed a lot of work before it would be ready to leave on Santa's sleigh next year.

They even found one little puppy who likes it at the North Pole so much, he had hidden on Christmas Eve and stayed to live with Santa. The elves named him Polar Bear, because he loved the snow so much. The elves went through big bags of toys. Some so big they could hardly move them. So far though, no one was having any luck.

Then, along came Benny, a penguin helper of Santa's, Benny had found Daniel's race track gift. The whole North Pole Toy Factory exploded in cheers and applause for Benny! You would have thought it was midnight on New Years Eve! Someone even started ringing the golden bells. They were only rung on very special occasions.

Only two of Santa's reindeer had decided to stay home during the vacation months, Dasher and Prancer. Fortunately for Santa they were two of his fastest reindeer. They were very excited, this was their favorite thing to do, to take Santa and his presents to children. The elf in charge of the reindeer fed them lots of carrots and got them hooked up to the sleigh all ready to go.

The elves were waving and cheering for Santa. He was a hero to all of them! Santa waved back and off they went. He planned to fly half way with the reindeer because he only had two and didn't want to get them two tired. They were very special to him and Santa loved them very much. He planned to take a plane the rest of the way to Daniels house.

Santa stopped in Lexington Kentucky and left the reindeer at the Keeneland Race Track and Stables. Santa knew they would be in good hands there until he could get back to pick them up. Right across the highway from Keeneland is the Lexington Airport, so he caught his plane and off he went to Daniels. Daniel was so surprised when he got his present from Santa along with a big pat on the head for being such a good boy all year.

When Daniel opened his present it was exactly what he wanted. He would play with it for years to come and never forget the special trip Santa had made just to get it to him. Daniel surprised Santa too, with cookies and milk he had saved especially for him. Santa thought about his dream and realized with wonderful children around like Daniel, he would never have to beg for work to buy cookies. He felt like a very lucky Santa!

Suddenly, Santa realized that Daniel lived in Florida. The state he had planned to visit this vacation. Maybe he'd find Frosty and his Penguin friend and have one of those little umbrella drinks after all. Florida was just as beautiful as he had imagined. You see he was always coming during the night of Christmas Eve and didn't have time to stop and enjoy the beaches and nice weather.

There were no icicles here and Santa had just beaten Father Time. It was almost New Year's Eve. It looked like Santa was going to celebrate on a warm beach in Florida this New Year's Eve after all! The next day was New Year's Eve and Santa bought himself some sunglasses and rented a motor cycle to drive down the highway that run by the beaches.

When Santa drove by in his sunglasses and on the motorcycle, he got more attention than anyone on the beach! It was a beautiful day and he had talked to Mr. Penguin, they planned to meet for a New Year's Eve dinner that night and watch the sunset over the ocean.

Santa loved the beach and was having a great time. Mr. Penguin told him Frosty had melted away but had a wonderful time before he left. He said to tell Santa he'd see him next winter at the North Pole. As Santa and Mr. Penguin watched the sunset over the ocean they sipped their umbrella drinks and listen to the distant crowds cheering in the New Year at midnight. Santa said to Mr. Penguin, "it's been a great year but next year will even be better!"

SANTA PROVES THAT SOMETIMES REALLY GOOD THINGS CAN BE MADE OUT OF MISTAKES!

THE SAD LITTLE TREE WITH BIG CHRISTMAS DREAMS! (PART 1)

2007-12-18T22:24:00.000-05:00

Christmas was a few weeks away and Alex and all his friends were busy have lots of winter fun. While parents were busy shopping, wrapping gifts and sending out Christmas cards, the kids were building snowmen and sledding. All the normal winter games. Alex had many friends. He lived in a large neighborhood and most of the children were close in age.

Ted was at Alex's window looking for him to come out and play. Alex and Suzanne were playing a board game on the floor. It was such a nice day outside, they both decided to go out with Ted and have some fun in the snow. They lived in a large neighborhood backing up to a wooded area with some nice size hills to sled and have fun on.

Alex grabbed his coat and on the way back out the door Ted noticed a pretty candle wreath Alex's mom had made. Alex explained it was an Advent wreath. Each of the four Sundays before Christmas you light a new candle until the last of the four was lit and then it would soon be Christmas day. The 1st Sunday symbolizes Hope with the Prophet's Candle: Jesus is coming. Both Suzanne and Ted thought that such a neat idea. They both said they were going to tell their moms about it.

On Alex's front porch sat a sad looking little tree that Suzanne asked Alex about. He explained that his mom had seen it at the store among some real pretty little Christmas trees and felt sorry for it. Alex's mom had a heart as big as the moon in the sky. It was a live tree in a little pot. Alex had put a red ornament on it to make his mom feel better. You see, Alex had inherited his mom's big heart. In his mind he could see it all dressed up as a beautiful Christmas tree someday.

Shoveling snow down the sidewalk was another friend Cindy. She had it cleaned all the way to the corner of the street. Tommy was headed down the walk to Wonderland Mountain. It seemed all the neighbor kids were out. It was a very warm winter day with a beautiful sun shinning. Tommy stopped along the way to play king of the snow hill with another friend.

Boys will be boys you know! All the children had nicknamed the hill Wonderland Mountain. It started to snow lightly and Tommy did the catch snow on your tongue game. Tommy was very good at all winter sports. He had a beautiful toboggan and when he and his friend got to the top of Wonderland Mountain, they were in for a great ride to the bottom.

Down the hill they came and were really having fun! Eric the neighborhood snowboard expert was headed up the hill on a ski lift. When Eric was out everyone was in for a show, he was a great snow boarder. Tommy and his friend were headed toward the bottom of the hill. It was one of their best runs ever. They decided they would watch Eric come down on his snowboard.

Eric was just getting started and took some moguls to warm up. Things that would be difficult for most people, were just warming up for Eric. Then when he gets going, he really puts on a show. Some people say he will be in the Olympics someday. Everyone stops what they are doing to watch.

At the bottom of the run, Eric stops to wave a thank you to all the folks who were clapping. Eric is a very nice guy and never gets a big head because he is good. He knows there will always be someone out there just a little better than him so he continues to work hard. It was starting to get dark and Alex and his friends headed for home. Along the way Alex ask his friends to pray for his mother's little tree. He hoped it wouldn't die and make her sad.

Suzanne said she would and did. So did the others. Alex had a bunch of good friends. Several more days of fun in the snow went by. On Sunday Alex's mom lit the second candle, The 2nd Sunday symbolizes Faith with the Bethlehem Candle: Mary & Joseph's journey to Bethlehem. Suddenly one day the kids all got up, went outside and the sad little tree was missing from Alex's porch. When they went up to ski that day there it was planted and growing right on Wonderland Mountain even this time of year!

Someone had even put a few lights on the little tree. First thing the next morning the kids all ran to see the tree. Sure enough, it even had a few evergreen needles on it. The kids were all amazed. They thought maybe they should camp out that night and see exactly what was going on. It was pretty cold but they set up their tents and built a fire.

Late that night Suzanne heard a noise and looked out of the tent. She saw a beautiful fairy sitting in front of the little tree. She seemed to be blessing the tree. Suzanne kept what she had seen to herself but she could see again the next day that the sad little tree had grown even more. The skiers could see that too, the little tree seemed taller ever day!

That night the fairy must have been there again because the next day the tree had grown to a size even the skiers couldn't make it over! It was time to cut this tree down and take it home to his mom. She was going to be so surprised! Alex had a teenage friend with a pickup truck and several friends who went along to help bring home the tree for his mother.

Tommy had been so excited he even brought decorations for the tree, never realizing most would blow off on the way to Alex's house. Mean while, Santa only had a couple of weeks left before the big day and he was making the best of it. At that very moment he was on a golf course teeing off.

This was the time of year all the elves and even Mrs.Clause pampered Santa the most. They thought it was very important for him to rest up before the big night got here. He got to do all the things he loved. Golf, play guitar, the sax, even do a jig. Besides the night of Christmas eve, this was Santa's favorite time.

Santa loved playing his instruments and doing an occasional jig. He liked to ride the reindeer around the North Pole and just take a break and relax before the big night arrived! It was a very hard job making it to every child's house in one night. There must have been a little magic spread around on Christmas Eve to help Santa get to every home. Maybe he had a little help from the fairy who grew Alex's tree!

Santa was really just a big kid himself, he loved trying out all the toys the elves had made. He also loved to ski, so he got a lot of practice trying out the new ski sets to make sure they worked well. At least that was what he told Mrs. Claus. Mrs.Claus knew Santa's favorite treat was Gingerbread Cookies.

Mrs. Claus fixed him up a whole batch every Christmas. They didn't last long after Santa got his hands on them. Of course that's what Gingerbread cookies are made for and there is no greater honor than to be one baked for Santa Claus!

Alex's mom lit the 3rd candle. The 3rd Sunday symbolizes Joy with the Shepherd's Candle: Joy at the coming birth of Jesus. This meant it was only a little more than 1 week left till Christmas! Alex had to get his new tree decorated. His mother was so proud of what a beautiful tree the sad little twig she had brought home had turned out to be. Alex was doing a great job of straightening Tommy's ornaments and adding more his family had. The tree was going to be so pretty!

Uh oh, Alex's mom just hung the mistletoe over the doorway! That meant whoever stopped under it got a kiss. Alex stayed away from that doorway but couldn't figure his dad out. He hung around the doorway all the time! Alex just didn't get it. His dad and mom were kissing all the time under that mistletoe. One thing for sure, there wasn't going to be any mistletoe in his house when he was grown.

The 4th candle was now lit. The 4th Sunday symbolizes Peace with the Angel's Candle: The Message of the Angels "Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men." Just a few more days left before Christmas day! Alex and some friends thought they better get some shopping done to help Santa out. The magic of Christmas would be here soon and everyone wanted to be ready with a special gift for those they loved. Alex's mom felt she had already received the best gift in the world. A sad little tree that turned into the most beautiful one in the world. At least to her.

SPECIAL PEOPLE SEE BEAUTY WHERE OTHERS DON'T EVEN THINK TO LOOK!

"THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS" (PART 2)

2007-12-18T17:24:00.000-05:00

Alex and his friends were really getting excited, Christmas day was almost here. They continued to do all the kid stuff, playing in the snow, building snowmen, just having a great time. Problem was, getting to sleep at night. Now that was getting tough, thinking about the big night soon to come when Santa's sleigh and reindeer would take off from the north pole filled with the magic of Christmas. They would make it to every child's home if Santa had anything to say about it, and he did! He had just found the perfect tree for his North Pole Christmas.

Every day there seemed to be more snow angels wherever you looked. Suzanne thought to herself, it was hard to find a yard that didn't have a snow angel somewhere in it. From her window she could see both Tommy and another friend named David making angels up on Wonderland Mountain. Then they decided to race each other down the hill.

Tommy was off to a good start but here came David, he was really moving and close to the bottom he pulled ahead of Tommy to win. The boys patted each other on the back and shook hands always friends. No one ever got mad at one another. All their games were just for fun. Tommy went off to help another friend finish up a snow man he was building.

They were doing a great job, they had a pretty good looking snowman started. Suzanne smiled as she watched out the window. Snowmen always made her smile. She thought of the verse in the song that said "Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul." That is just how she thought of snowmen, always smiling and happy.

Besides Santa Claus, Suzanne bet that snowmen were the next happiest things around! There was an older gentleman in the neighborhood who was always grumpy with the kids and even the adults. Alex's mom said he was just sad and lonely. The kids said he was Scrooge, the old man from the Christmas Story.

Mr. Winston was his real name but not many of the kids knew that because of his nickname. Quietly, when the children weren't around, even the adults called him Mr. Scrooge. Alex and his family hoped this Christmas season would bring some happiness and peace to Mr. Winston. Alex's mom took him a warm apple pie for Christmas. He even smiled and said thank you!

The North Pole Penguin was ringing the get to work bell. He was the chief assembly line foreman in the toy factory. His job each year was to let Santa and all the elves know that play time was over and it was time to get ready for Christmas Eve. Santa also kept track on his days until Christmas calendar. He had never missed a Christmas and wasn't going to let it happen now.

The elves were on the job, lickety-split. They were known for being the finest toy makers in the world! No one took as much pride in their work as the elves who worked for Santa. Mainly because if you weren't the best, you didn't work for Santa! The toys that the elves made were so good, if taken good care of would last forever.

Santa's trains always keep moving around the track and the cars rolled right along. The elves checked out all the parts to make sure they were working right. The wagons were sure to haul little brothers or sisters all around the neighborhoods. Pets also got a ride sometimes.

Some of the toy stores had lady elves showing customers different priced toys. It seemed the stores had a toy priced just right for everyone. Santa may make it to every house but it was hard to leave more than one gift at most homes. The poor reindeer would really have a hard time pulling that many toys and gifts, so most parents helped Santa out a little.

The reindeer were the other thing Santa couldn't do without. They were how he made it all around the world on Christmas Eve. Santa had an elf in charge of the reindeer. He was a wonderful, kind elf who feed, brushed and cared for the reindeer. His name was Willy and he loved each and everyone of the reindeer very much!

Willy thought his reindeer were the prettiest, smartest creatures on earth. He also knew they loved to have a good time. He caught Dasher twirling a wreath around his antlers one day and Prancer all decked out with Christmas lights on his. Willy would just laugh and have fun with them until it got close to Christmas Eve, then it was time to get down serious business.

After all the reason people started celebrating Christmas was because it is the day, under the star of Bethlehem that the baby Jesus was born to his mother Mary and father Joseph. They found a stable among the sheep and other animals to have baby Jesus and the world has celebrated that day ever since. Many came that night and the next few days to see him.

The baby Jesus was loved by everyone who saw him and the wise men brought presents for him. That is how Christmas gift giving began. He was poor and born in a stable with animals but became the most famous person on earth. That may be why Christmas is such a special day. Everyone gives a present to those they love in honor of baby Jesus.

The gentlest little lambs to the beautiful angels came to see the baby Jesus. It was then and is now a very special time. That is why Santa takes his job so seriously. He has a special line up the night before Christmas Eve to inspect the toy soldiers. He needs to make sure each and everyone is perfect and in good working condition.

Every once in awhile, Santa would find a little jealousy going on. One wooden soldier was shoving another. Santa sent for the boss wooden soldier to have a talk with him and have that stopped right away! Then everyone heard the bells ringing. The angel bell ringer was telling everyone it was time to load up the sleigh and get underway. They had a big night ahead!

There were so many presents to load that some of the elves almost couldn't make it to the sleigh. One way or another though, all the presents ended up in Santa's sleigh. The presents were every size and shape, some were big and some were small but each one was very important to someone in the world and so very important to Santa and the elves.

One little elf was having fun juggling a few presents. While a girl elf was shaking one, trying to figure out what was inside. Even elves are curious about what is inside the presents. The Christmas magic was in the air. Willy had all the reindeer hooked up and ready to go. Santa was dressed and holding Willy up to wave goodbye to all the reindeer.

Willy knew he would see them all come home safe and sound because the magic of Christmas never let anything bad happen to them or Santa. On Christmas Eve, Santa, his sleigh and reindeer were quite a sight to see. Unfortunately, the magic moved things so fast, very few people ever got to see how beautiful they are.

Santa got right to work putting presents under trees all around the world. You see, on Christmas Eve Santa was the star! Next day as the world woke there was love in the air everywhere. It was a beautiful morning in Alex's neighborhood even Mr. Winston walked by and waved good morning and wished Alex a Merry Christmas!

Alex gave a friend Emily a present she really loved. It was a pretty brown teddy bear. Alex knew she collected them and she was so pleased with it, she gave it a big hug. That made Alex very happy. Many times giving a gift that makes someone happy is better than getting one yourself.

Sometimes during the night of Christmas Eve special presents are left, like this sweet kitty in someone's stocking. He had a tag around his neck that read, my name is Mr. Muffet. If you happen some Christmas Eve to come across a large man all dressed in red and looking through his big bag of presents, it just might be Santa Claus! In that case you will have experienced the magic of Christmas!

THE TRUE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS IS THE LOVE WE ALL SHARE WITH ONE ANOTHER!

NORMAN'S FIRST & MAYBE LAST FISHING ADVENTURE!

2007-12-09T17:06:00.001-05:00

Norman was not known as an experienced fisherman. As a matter of fact he had never been fishing before. He got out his Fisherman's World Catalog and bought all the most expensive fishing clothing and gear they had to offer. He was dressed top to bottom with the best, wading boots, fishing vest, even a fisherman's hat. He also bought the best pole and lures the company had. Norman figured with such good equipment he couldn't help but come home loaded with fish for dinner that night.

Norman loaded up his family RV with his gear, a raft and his new fishing boat hooked behind and off he went. Since Norman was a little boy he had always loved boats and dreamed of becoming a great fisherman. Life had taken Norman on a different path until just recently. He had married, become a father and worked hard to have a nice home and wonderful family.

As Norman pulled up to the dock he realized this was the very first time he'd gotten the chance to follow his dream and do some fishing. As he parked his RV he saw a lady fishing off a dock and the whole lake was full of all kinds of boats and people. This Norman thought, was going to be a great day! Larry, a neighbor of Norman's, pulled up with his boat on his SUV.

Larry was an excellent fisherman. Norman would see him almost every weekend pass by with his boat headed for the lake. Larry would come back loaded with fish and pass many out to his neighbors because his family couldn't eat them all. Larry was a good friend. Norman decided to try out his new boat first. It was a beautiful day. The water was so clear and blue, the sun glistened off it. Some fish jumped right out of the water as Norman rode along in his new boat.

Norman passed a Cub Scout fishing and wished he had started fishing when he was younger. He knew he had a lot to learn. But, hey, how hard can fishing be, he thought. Next he spotted a lady sailor in a row boat. Then a man smiling happily at the wheel of a beautiful sailboat. Norman could see it was his pride and joy!

He looked like a retired gentleman and Norman thought he had probably worked hard all his life to buy that boat. Norman decided to pull back into dock and try out his new raft next. As he was docking his boat he passed a man in the most beautiful canoe he had ever seen. It looked hand made and sanded smooth with love. It was really something to see!

Most people don't realize the number of different type of fish in the lake. There are every type and color you can imagine. Pretty blue fish, large green fish, even schools of gold fish that people have brought to the lake to set free in the blue water. They live and grow to be quite big in the lake.

A favorite of fisherman is the trout. They are a good tasting fish and usually easy to catch. Norman wasn't interested in any of those. He had his heart set on catching a large mouth bass. That is usually the type Larry brought home and Norman really wanted to catch one of those.

Lurking at the bottom of the lake just waiting for food to come along was one of the bass. As Norman put his lure in the water the bass thought it was food and went after it. Lures are made to look like small fish so the big ones go after them and get hooked on the fishing line. Just about that time Norman's bobber started jumping up and down.

Then suddenly Norman was in a fight for his life. Off went the raft with Norman hanging on with all his strength. Norman knew he had a big one and no way was he going to let go. The new raft was sure taking a beating but was holding up well. Norman was glad he had paid a little more than most of them cost because this raft was really being put to the test.

Norman and his raft flew passed a sailor in a dingy who looked shocked. He was glad it had not been him who caught whatever Norman had on the other end of that line. Finally, in spite of Norman's effort, the fishing line broke and the raft came to a gentle halt. Norman was actually kind of glad. He was beginning to think he had a sea monster on his line.

Norman would luckily never know it was a cute little yellow fish on the end of his line. You see Norman was right, he did have a lot to learn about fishing. One thing he had decided was to try fishing from a dock or off the bank. Maybe he should learn first to fish on dry land. Good idea, Norman had, don't you think so? Me too!

As Norman headed for a spot he thought would be a comfortable place to fish from, he saw Larry out in his boat holding up a nice big bass. Then he passed a young boy with a really big one and a man who had caught one of the little gold fish. He would throw that one back in the water to grow some more. Norman was getting a little upset with himself, here he had all the right equipment but just wasn't having any luck catching anything!

Then he looked up and saw a man trying to keep his boat from sinking. He had sprung a leak and was using a bucket to keep the water down. Norman ran to the lifeguard and he and some others took off in a boat to help the man. The lifeguards took the man on board their boat and tied his boat behind. They brought them both safely back to shore. The man thanked Norman for getting help to him.

When the man was safe again. Norman settled down on the bank to fish again. It was only a few minutes before Norman was holding on to his seat for dear life. He had another big one on his line and wasn't going to let this one get away. Well, Norman won the battle this time. He reeled in that large mouth bass and he was flopping up and down on the bank. Norman only made one mistake. He went over to take a closer look at the fish and got just a little to close!

Next thing Norman knew was that bass had him by the arm almost all the way up to his shoulder. Norman ran down to the waters edge and shook that bass off, back into the water. "Long John Silver's Restaurant" was starting to sound like a good place to stop on the way home for dinner to take his family. Norman was beginning to think his dream of having a bass mounted to a plaque on his wall singing songs was not going to happen!

Norman thought, maybe this fishing thing just wasn't for him after all. He remembered practicing in his gold fish bowl at home and even his fish Fred paid no attention to his fishing pole. His poor cat Whiskers never had any luck catching Fred either. Norman figured not being a good fisherman must run in the family!

Then Norman saw a pretty golden fish swim by and thought he would give it one more try. There must be one fish down there waiting for Norman's lure. He dropped his line in the water and waited and waited, it seemed like forever, then there it was the tug on his line. He had one, Norman reeled him in and made sure not to get to close to this one. He had caught himself a large mouth bass!

When Norman got home, his wife Mary Beth jumped up and down with joy, when she saw his big bass fish. She knew how important it was to him. That night, Norman told her he thought he just might wait awhile to go fishing again. Maybe until they had a grandson he could take with him. After watching Norman put his gear away that day, Mary Beth smiled at Norman and said "that sounds like a good idea!"

MANY TIMES THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN OUR LIVES CAN BE FOUND IN OUR OWN BACK YARDS!

THE NIGHT THERE WAS A RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE!

2007-12-02T13:00:00.000-05:00

Dudley the Donkey was hard at work sending out e-mails to all his friends all over the world. He and his best friend Molly Moo had planned a big party in the middle of the jungle in Africa. This was going to be a party none of their friends were likely to ever forget! Even the animals who lived in the jungle were not likely to forget this party for years. There would be stories handed down from parent to child for generations to come.

E-mailing invitations to the jungle party was a lot of work because Dudley and Molly Moo had so many friends all over the world. Computers have made that possible today. We can have friends in parts of the world that we never would have known a few years ago. Bowser the hound dog got in his tub and took a special bubble bath just for the occasion.

On her farm and several close by, Molly Moo's job was to ring her big cow bell and call a meeting to let all the farm animals know about the party. That helped Dudley so he didn't have to send them e-mails. She also did the booking for the ship that would take the animals to Africa. Even Dudley's friends from the zoo were able to attend. This was starting to look like the best party ever!

When they arrived in Africa, Molly Moo became the "Welcome Lady". It was her job to sit on the fence and welcome everyone as they arrived at the party. Many of the people had gone all out to get all dressed up for the party. Bowser was looking very handsome with his top hat and cane. Jive Turkey, well he always looked very sharp!

Jive gave Molly a friendly peace sign as he arrived at the party. They are very good friends and have known each other a long time. Mr. Piglet, the chef for the party, arrived and was ready to get started cooking right away. He was obviously very proud of his barbecue and according to what everyone who ate his food said, he had reason to be!

Iggie, the ant, even caught a ride on the ship because he heard Mr. Piglet was cooking for the party. Proof that there was good food around was when Iggie the ant showed up at the party. Iggie could be found wherever good food was available. Some even said, if Iggie didn't show up you may as well go home because something must be wrong with the food. Well not tonight he was here and hauling off all he could!

Mr. Piglet was known for the best burgers anywhere! Once you have a Mr. Piglet burger no other burgers were ever the same. The next group of guests that began to arrive were the musicians. Dudley the donkey had a cousin names Hee Haw, he played country and western guitar. Dudley plays the sax so they have a very different style and sound.

Hee Haw has a lot of fans who love his country and western sound. Dudley plays some great rhythm and blues. A lot of musicians showed up at the party and things really started to rock. Wuzzy Fuz, a cat friend, brought his sax and he and Dudley did some great duos. There was even a cat that played great salsa trumpet and another a toe tapping fiddle.

This was becoming one of the best music concerts ever put on! Many quests were still arriving and the party was really picking up. Chef Piglet was cooking burgers as fast as he could and music was just getting better and better. In the forest around them the animals were coming nearer to see what was happening and listen to the music.

A monkey friend joined in to play guitar. That seemed to be the favorite musical instrument of the night. Everybody just called him Monk, he played a great jazz and blues guitar. Another old friend who also played guitar came and played some modern hard rock. His name is Edgar and some of you may remember him. We met Edgar before, he's "The Tender Hearted Lion Who Wanted to Be King."

Edgar might be tender hearted but had a big heart full of rock and roll music. He can play one great guitar! There was music for every possible type of music lover at the party. A penguin even came who played beautiful classical piano. A frog friend sat back relaxed and strummed a wonderful banjo. He was so good, he had a large audience in just minutes.

Poor Molly Moo's arm was getting so tired waving at all the new quests, she decided to get some popcorn, sit down and take a break. With all the great music, naturally everyone started to dance. It was quite a sight to see. Most had never seen some of these animals dance and it was really cute to watch. Molly Moo was having a great time!

There were lots of snacks and a cute chipmunk was having some potato chips while he watched some of the dancers. All the dancers had their own style and it was a lot of fun. The gator was having a ball. It seems everyone loves to dance so all the quests were having a great time!

Each one, the lama, octopus, the weasel and even the rat had a special rhythm. Jive Turkey was really getting down. You may remember our octopus, her name is Anora and she was in our story called "Oceans Have Butterflies Too." When Anora started doing her special spin it was so pretty! She always impressed everyone with her graceful moves.

Look who else was getting into the groove, our little chipmunk. He just couldn't stand there watching and eating chips for long before he had to join in the dancing. The music was just too good that night. Everyone found themselves do a jig before the night was over. Even Molly Moo got into the act.

You could tell this wasn't the first time Molly Moo had gone dancing. She had some special moves and really got into her dancing! Dudley had some fancy moves also, he and Molly Moo made a get couple to watch dance. One of Molly Moo's cow friends got a little excited and tried to pull off the cow jumped over the moon stunt.

She got as far as landing on the moon and started dancing. She was having lots of fun but the moon sure wasn't happy about it! Back down in the jungle a cobra snake was swaying to the music in it's basket. It seemed all the animals in the jungle were really enjoying the party. Even some of the natives were listening to the great sounds.

Suddenly, a little grasshopper began to sing and her partner played a beautiful violin. The song was a soft gentle love song. The whole crowd became quite and started to sway slowly together. Love was in the air all around. The night was going to end on a soft loving note.

The lama's were cuddling and love was simply glowing off them. The cute rhino's were snuggling up and it was obvious they were very much in love. Something about the beautiful sound the grasshoppers were sharing with everyone just seemed to bring out love.

A pair of pretty red parrots were hugging and really enjoying the song. A couple of white rabbits were nuzzling each other too. One thing this night had done was in some wonderful ways changed the world a little bit, hopefully forever. The night the jungle rumbled brought more love to the world in many small ways, lets try to keep it that way.

THE WAY PEOPLE TREAT THE ANIMALS IN THEIR LIVES SAYS MORE ABOUT THEM AS PEOPLE THAN ANYTHING ELSE THEY DO.

BUNGIE AND HARLEY'S BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN HOME

2007-11-27T11:24:00.000-05:00

Deep in the forest lived a happy bear named Bungie. He had a wonderful life living in a warm mountain area with everything a bear could want. There was a terrific stream full of fish for dinner. Bungie even had lots of company. His bear friends were everywhere all over the woods. Ranger Davis was the policeman of the mountain and tried very hard to make sure everyone did all the right things. Sometimes that was a hard job.

Harley was Bungie's best friend and seemed to have problems staying out of trouble. Harley wasn't a bad bear, he was just always hungry. You could find him in a campers tent hunting for food or sitting with a pot full of honey. It seemed Harley was always up to mischief. Bungie looked up to Harley, he kind of thought Harley was a cool guy.

Bungie couldn't get away with much of anything! Ranger Davis just suddenly would show up on his ATV and chase after Bungie. Deep down inside Ranger Davis liked Bungie a lot. Sometimes Bungie turned the tables on Ranger Davis and chased him for awhile. Bungie doesn't get away with many of his pranks because Ranger Davis always catches him. He just gives Bungie a good talking to and lets him go. Ranger Davis is really a nice man who just wants Bungie to grow up to be a good bear.

Meanwhile Harley is having lunch at a campers tent. The camper doesn't know he has a guest but will be very surprised when he gets back from fishing. Harley is a very smart bear. He waits for Bungie to attract Ranger Davis's attention then goes hunting for something to get into. Harley is a large black bear so he needs a lot of food.

Harley has a lot of competition for food in the forest. There are other animals and even insects everywhere just looking for food. Iggie is a little ant with a big appetite too, so he is always working out to stay in shape to carry home great food when he finds it. Iggie and Harley try to see who will make it first to the unwatched picnic baskets.

Iggie never let's a day go by without doing his workouts. Iggie does one arm push ups and runs on his ant size tread mill. It's a hard life out in the forest finding food and Iggie stays in good shape to be at his best. After all, bears like Harley and Bungie are much bigger than him so he has to be as strong as he can and very smart!

Harley is out having fun on his favorite log over a stream. Bungie is taking the day to clean his cave. Bungie uses this cave when the weather is a little cooler because it doesn't have grass and green plants that die in the cold weather and make a harder bed to sleep on. In the summer he has a pretty moss covered cave that is cool and soft inside.

As Bungie got up this beautiful morning he was suddenly upset! Down the road he saw a camper coming that he recognized, it was Fred Wilson. Even though this was a no hunting area, Fred never payed any attention to the law and continued to hunt. When Bungie walked up to Fred's camper, Fred grabbed his camera and got a picture of Bungie. Then he realized how mad Bungie was. Bungie took off after Fred and chased him right up a tree!

Fred just never seemed to learn his lesson, he just kept coming back for more. Finally Bungie just left Fred up the tree and went to see what Harley was up to. Along the way he passed Iggie carrying home a great looking sandwich. That had to mean Harley was near by. There he was with another great looking picnic basket. Harley shared some with Bungie, then they went looking for some honey for desert.

Harley was a pro at getting honey without getting stung by the bees. He was trying to show Bungie how it was done but Bungie would still get a sting once in awhile. Off they went to find a bee hive. They knew just where some really good ones were. Harley had been hunting honey for many years and Bungie was learning a lot from him.

Bungie looked up and there was the prettiest hive he thought he had ever seen! Harley was after it right away then they both stopped. Harley and Bungie heard something coming and looked down the hill. Oh, no! It was Harry Wilson! He was even a worse person than Fred. Bungie made up his mind right then and there this would be Harry's last visit to his mountain to hunt!

When Harry got out of his jeep, Harley jumped on it and started jumping up and down. Harley was one big bear, if Harry made it back down the mountain this time, he was probably going to have to walk. While Harley took care of Harry's Jeep, Bungie chased after him. He wasn't going to get away and hurt any animals this time.

Bungie finally had him. He took his rifle away and just shook his head at Harry. Bungie was trying to figure out what to do with Harry when along came Ranger Davis. He told Bungie he had to put him down. That didn't make Bungie very happy, after all Harry had hurt a lot of his friends. Finally Ranger Davis explained to Bungie that he was going to arrest Harry and put him in jail. Bungie decided that was fair and let go of his leg. Harry fell on his head. He was ok but was definitely going to have a headache for awhile.

Bungie thought since they had gotten rid of Harry they might as well scare Fred away too. He went back and pushed and shoved on his camper until Fred finally gave in and down the mountain he went. Bungie and Harley didn't think he would be coming back anytime soon. They wanted their mountain to be safe for them and all their friends. Next day Bungie had a little trouble learning how to get to the honey without the bees getting him.

Harley tried to show him one more time how to eat the honey very carefully so the bees didn't get upset. He knew Bungie would get it soon. Harley and Bungie sat and watched a bee getting nectar to make honey from a pretty flower. It was going to be a lot more pleasant on their mountain for a long time to come.

Ranger Davis and Bungie would do a little jogging together once in awhile. It always seemed Mr. Davis got the most exercise! Bungie would dress up like a hunter and with his toy gun play sheriff and try to keep all his friends safe. It was working too. No one on the mountain had seen Fred or Harry again and no one missed them.

The mountain was a beautiful place again. Ranger Davis brought young boys to camp out and swim in the lake. It was a time they would never forget. Even big men came again, just with no guns and kept a special eye out for Harley. Everyone loved the mountain again. It was a beautiful place and Harley and Bungie intended to keep it that way forever!

SOMETIMES JUST ONE OR TWO OF US CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD WE LIVE IN, IF ONLY WE TRY!

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING AS IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

2007-11-18T22:29:00.000-05:00

When the Pilgrim people landed on the beach of America they soon met the people who had lived here for years and years, the American Indians. There were many different families of Indians and they called their family groups, tribes. For the Pilgrims, it was like taking a city boy and girl out of a downtown apartment and putting them on a farm. Without a house, a grocery store or even food. They were camping out with no tents, food, or supplies of any kind.

These folks didn't know anything about camping and soon they were hungry and getting sick. The friendly Indians, seeing that the Pilgrims were becoming ill decided to help their new neighbors. They brought corn and showed them how to cook it. They showed the Pilgrims how to build tents to stay warm and make lovely Indian blankets. In the spring they taught them to plant vegetables and of course pumpkins.

The Indian Princess Sequoia and her tribe were very smart and knew how to take care of themselves. All their lives had been living and learning how to care for themselves off the land. You might say they were the first true campers. They lived in tents called tepees and kept warm with animal fur. The Indians wasted nothing. They only hunted animals for food and clothing.

They started fires by rubbing two sticks together to cook and stay warm. The Indians fished and hunted buffalo and turkeys. When they found the Pilgrims going hungry they were kind enough to teach them how to care for themselves. Now the turkeys were not real happy about being caught for supper so they hide as much as they could.

This guy became the pet of one of the Pilgrims called Jacob. He named his turkey, Goober the Gobbler. Goober was a very smart turkey and had many hiding places. When he and Jacob were out together they had a favorite big rock they would hide behind and watch the other men and boys hunting turkeys.

Kaleb was Jacob's son and a young boy just learning to hunt. It was kind of cute that right behind him hiding behind a small tree branch was I nice fat turkey. Kaleb turned and spotted him and the chase was on. After running behind him for awhile, Kaleb decided he just didn't want to shoot at the turkey. He thought maybe he needed more target practice first and his dad would just have to catch them a turkey this year.

Kaleb decided to go to the pumpkin patch and see if the pumpkins were getting ripe. Their friends, the Indians had told them about a delicious pie that could be made out of pumpkins. The pumpkin patch was hopping, they were definitely ripe and ready to be pie. You see there are two things pumpkins want to do more than anything. One is to be a jack-o-lantern for Halloween, the other, a pie for Thanksgiving.

Kaleb found his father in the pumpkin patch looking pretty confused. His mother had sent him to look for the best pumpkin he could find to make one of those pies. Suddenly, Kaleb looked over and spotted the cutest pumpkin. He was dressed in a pilgrim hat to make himself stand out from the other pumpkins and he sure did! Kaleb's father, Jacob, was really glad Kaleb had come along to help pick out the pumpkin.

Rachel was a special friend of Kaleb's and loved corn on the cob! Chief Morning Star and Princess Sequoia had a hard time keeping Rachel in corn! Kaleb liked to show off in front of Rachel because he was kind of sweet on her. Rachel was so pretty with big brown eyes and pretty blond hair. Kaleb tried not to let it show but even their Indian friends could see he felt a little more than friendship toward Rachel.

Princess Sequoia made Rachel a beautiful blanket that Rachel loved so much. She told the Princess she would put it away and save it for a special day. Maybe someday she would have a baby of her own to rap in the wonderful blanket. As Princess Sequoia walked away she was so happy that her new friend was so pleased with the blanket. It always makes you feel good to do something special for others.

Jacob wasn't having much better luck than his son. Instead of dinner he brought the family home his new pet, Goober the Gobbler and build him a cage in the yard so he would be safe from wild animals. This whole hunting thing wasn't working to well for Kaleb and his family. Chief Morning Star could see what the problem was and understood. Jacob and his family had not hunted before to survive and were just still a little to tender hearted.

Chief Morning Star sent one of his best hunters out to get some turkeys. In the meanwhile he started a large fire to get the Thanksgiving feast started. The Indians and Pilgrims had decided that they had such a wonderful year of great crops that they should have a party to celebrate their great luck and give thanks for the food. They decided to call it Thanksgiving Day.

The rain and sun that year had filled the fields with all the food the Indians and Pilgrims would need for the long cold winter. Everyone got together to do the cooking and help each other. Rachel and Kaleb thought the smell of the food was wonderful and could hardly wait for the dinner to be ready.

Working together the families soon had dinner ready for all the people in the tribe and colony to sit and enjoy. There was enough food for everyone and it was very good! The Pilgrims had learned so much this year from their new friends the Indians. These great people were sure to best friends forever!

Each of the groups gave thanks in their own special way and then the wonderful dinner began. Chief Morning Star had the honor of carving the turkey. After all it was his men who ended up doing the hunting. They had many turkeys so the people would have all they wanted. Kaleb found his favorite part was the drum stick.

Rachel just enjoyed a little bit of everything and of course the corn! They were hoping to get to the pumpkin pie soon. Kaleb couldn't wait to taste it. Kaleb and Rachel couldn't remember ever having such a wonderful meal and to make it even better they were sharing it with people they knew would be great friends forever!

Finally, pumpkin pie time. Kaleb and Rachel were so excited! Just close your eyes and imagine never having had pumpkin pie before, then tasting it for the first time. Yum, yum, Rachel and Kaleb had found a new favorite pie, they loved it! Rachel and Kaleb, were so glad they had learned about it from their Indian friends.

After everyone had finished dinner Rachel and Kaleb pulled what might have been the very first wish bone. Kaleb got the long end of the wish bone, which meant whatever he wished for would come true. As he stood smiling at Rachel, many in the crowd thought they knew what Kaleb had probably wished for!

As the day passed Chief Morning Star sent smoke signals to all the other tribes near by to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. Princess Sequoia presented Jacob and his family with a beautiful dream catcher she had made. They are believed to catch and hold your dreams forever! Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could catch every dream we have and never let it go?

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING AND REMEMBER THE WORDS OF A GENIUS MUSICIAN, WHO ONCE SAID "I HOPE SOMEDAY YOU'LL JOIN US AND THE WORLD WILL LIVE AS ONE"

JOHN LENNON

CANDY APPLE HOT RODDIE AND BETHANY

2007-11-12T00:25:00.000-05:00

Bethany was a young lady who lived on the edge of the large city of Atlanta, Georgia. She had always been very athletic and had the ability to doing almost any activity she tried. Right now she was practicing her skate boarding. Watching and trying right along with her was one of the things she loved the most, Candy Apple Hot Roddie. Candy Apple was a cute little hot rod her father had owned since she was new and he was a college student. When Bethany graduated high school, her father gave Candy Apple to her for a graduation gift.

When Candy Apple found out she was staying in the family and would now belong to Bethany she was so excited she was spinning on her nose. After all she had driven Bethany and her mother to the hospital the night she was born. She had driven her to school, the malls and friends homes. Everywhere Bethany went as she grew up.

Candy Apple helped drive Bethany to grade school where she learned to read and became smarter all the time. Bethany was very good in school. You could always count on her to do extra special home work, like on her volcano for science class. She had the whole class surprised when it actually erupted! That was Bethany, always doing just a little extra!

She was also a very good athlete. There were not many things Bethany couldn't do. Her best friend Tina was also a talented young lady. She was in a rock band and played guitar and sang. Tina thought her friend Bethany was good at most everything because there wasn't much she was afraid to try.

Tina was a great singer and everyone believed she was going to be a big star one day. Tina had an older car also. The only problem was it was not in very good condition and had not been cared for like Candy Apple. One of Bethany's favorite spare time things to do was work on old cars and make them pretty again.

Bethany had gotten a job in construction road finishing. She loved the work. She felt she was learning a lot and loved working in the outdoors. On weekends and her days off she was working on Tina's car. Presently, she was putting primer on it to get ready to paint it. Tina was so excited she couldn't wait to see it when Bethany was finished. Tina had seen many other cars Bethany had worked on and they all looked great!

At work, Bill, the foreman was showing Bethany what the next part of the job was going to be. She was such a good worker, Bill had come to depend on her help a lot. The back hoe came rolling up and Jake, it's operator, was ready to go. The sun was shinning and it was going to be another great day. They should get at least a big part of the old concrete removed today.

As Bethany stopped for a moment to watch the work getting started, she thought what a great new road they were going to have when it was finished. Harry, the concrete truck driver, pulled up to pour the new concrete for the section they had ready from yesterday. The days were long and sometimes hot. When Bethany headed back to the parking lot at the end of the day to Candy Apple she was usually pretty tired.

That day something was terribly wrong. Candy Apple looked very scared and then Bethany saw a man with a ski mask over his face looking inside Candy Apple. He was a robber trying to take Candy Apples stereo equipment and other things he could sell to get money! Bethany called for John the forklift truck driver who happened to be near by. When he headed toward that robber, he took off running as fast as he could go.

A fork lift can crush a person very easily! Candy Apple was burning rubber in her rush to get out of the parking lot. Bethany called the police when she got home. She later found out they had caught the robber trying to steal from another car. He was going to jail for awhile and wouldn't be bothering Candy Apple anymore!

When Candy Apple heard the news that the robber had been caught she was jumping up and down with excitement! Bethany got on her cell phone and told Tina all about it. She and Candy Apple were going down to an open air concert that night to hear Tina sing. It was held once a year at the city park nearby.

Candy Apple sat idling outside waiting for Bethany. You know how girls are, she took awhile to get ready to go. Bethany listened to her iPod music as she got ready. She finally ran out jumped in Candy Apple and off they went to hear Tina's concert. Tina was as great as ever and the whole crowd had a great time!

While Tina sang, Candy Apple had her favorite sign to keep people from getting into trouble driving. She wanted to see everyone safe. Candy Apple was a very special little car with a lot of personality! That weekend Bethany helped another friend wax his '57 Chevy. Then she got back to work on Tina's car. It was coming along very well!

College was starting and Bethany had a lot of studying to do. She loved books so she actually enjoyed school. She was a good student and was going the have a wonderful future. One of Bethany's dreams was to visit Europe. She hoped to spend the next summer traveling around there. She was saving as much money from her job as she could in hopes of making the trip.

That weekend was the annual drag strip race and Bethany had been choose as the Queen of the race which meant she got to jump up and start the race cars. It was a big honor. Everyone knew how Bethany loved cars and voted for her. Candy Apple was so proud of her she just sat and jumped up and down with her front end. It was a great day and lots of fun!

Candy Apple was really impressed when she saw the final job Bethany had done on Tina's car. It was a beautiful deep purple color and looked brand new! When Tina first saw it, she got big tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe what a beautiful job Bethany had done. She would keep this car all her life and maybe hand it down to her daughter someday.

Bethany went out and did some of her famous roller blading. She was so good she could even do rail blading. As you can see there isn't much Bethany can't do. Summer was coming and she had to decide if she was going to make the Europe trip or not. She knew she was going to miss a lot of people and most of all Candy Apple. She would get covered in her Dad's garage until she returned.

Bethany thought and thought. Finally she decided that she had saved enough money and should go now while she had the chance. Some of her special friends got all painted up and gave her a big going away at the airport. Bethany was going to miss them a lot but summer wasn't that long and she'd be home soon.

As Bethany waved goodbye she knew she'd miss Candy Apple most of all. Her dad promised to take good care of Candy Apple and keep her all covered in the garage. Candy Apple did her special little turn and gave Bethany a big smile so she would know Candy Apple would be waiting when she returned. Great friends always are!

ALWAYS KEEP YOUR HOPES ALIVE! A WISE MAN ONCE TOLD ME, " IT ISN'T LUCK THAT GETS YOU WHERE YOU ARE, IT'S TALENT."

"JOJO THE DIXIELAND JAZZMAN AND DA GATOR"

2007-11-05T14:15:00.000-05:00

JoJo has been in these parts of Florida all his life. He was born in a small town just off Alligator Alley. For those who don't know Alligator Alley it's a highway in southern Florida that runs from near the Florida Keys to the Gulf of Mexico, straight across the state. JoJo is probably the finest Dixieland jazz man left on earth. There isn't a musical instrument he can't play. He is one talented soul and soul is what you get when you hear JoJo play!

He plays baby grand pianos just as easily as he plays Dixie jazz pianos. JoJo can excite a crowd as a solo performer or he can easily fit right in with a group of other musicians. JoJo often goes to some of the local clubs at night to sit in with some of the performers. There is always a lot of excitement when JoJo walks through the door. Especially the performers are glad to see him.

JoJo has a way of fitting in with the young electric guitar players and their rap songs. He also has their respect. There isn't one who doesn't wish they had JoJo's talent. Then he heads on down the street and drops in to some of the other clubs to see who's playing. Sooner or later he always comes across some of his old friends and plays for awhile with them.

JoJo loves that because during their breaks they all sit and talk about old times. They all have some wonderful memories of days gone by. JoJo then picks up his guitar at closing and heads for home. JoJo has a terrific family including a sweet grandson he is extremely proud of named Jamal. Some of you may remember Jamal from a story a few weeks ago. Well JoJo is his grandfather.

Jamal is just as proud of his grandfather. He is known all over America as one of the greatest jazz men alive. Someday Jamal hopes to be just like him. Right now though, Jamal likes to play a lot! One day Jamal was out riding his big wheel bike down a dirt road when all of a sudden a big gator jumped out of some palm trees and scared Jamal very badly!

Jamal turned around fast and headed for home but the gator wasn't giving up. He thought he had supper in his sight! He took off after Jamal. That big wheel was hauling as fast as it would go! This was one big ugly gator. He even had two different colored eyes. One was blue and the other red. It made him look extra scary!

As Jamal neared his home he heard his grandfather practicing his sax. He looked back behind him and saw something very strange happening. The gator had stopped and was doing a dance in time to his grandfather's music. From that day forward whenever Da Gator, as he came to be known, got out of control everyone would just call JoJo to calm him down.

Down south sometimes people say da instead of the, so that is why everyone named gator, Da Gator. It kind of became Jamal's job to keep an eye on him and let his grandfather know if he needed to get near Da Gator and play some music to calm him down. One day after Jamal finished playing on his trampoline he headed off to see a friend of his. Along the way he had to pass a golf course.

He saw a golfer about to tee off but there was a big problem! Not far away, all decked out for a big dinner, complete with fork and knife and a big bib that said, I love golf with a heart was Da Gator! Jamal knew what he really meant was, I love to eat golfers! He ran to get his grandfather as fast as he could!

Jamal and his grandfather figured they had better hurry, so they took JoJo's classic pink '57 Chevy. JoJo had that car since it was brand new and it was his pride and joy, next to Jamal who came first of course. JoJo played his guitar and soothed Da Gator. The next thing Jamal and his grandfather saw was Da Gator headed back for his swamp and leaving behind one very lucky golfer!

Da Gator's swamp was a pretty nice place and he had plenty of frogs for his dinner waiting there. Jamal liked to go to the swamp and play with the frogs sometimes. Of course he knew he had to watch out for Da Gator. He could be a sneaky fellow and just pop up out the water when you didn't expect him at all!

The next morning Jamal woke and did his usual jumping up and down on his bed. Jamal's mom could never figure out why he thought that was so much fun. After breakfast he went to his back yard. His grandfather had put up a tire swing in a tree for him. Jamal loved to swing circles in it. He was a lucky boy and even had a nice size pool to cool off in on hot days. In Florida almost everyday is hot!

One day JoJo got an emergency call that a park ranger was in a wrestling match with Da Gator. JoJo took his cello along. He knew Da Gator liked the mellow sound of the cello more than any of his instruments. JoJo thought it was going to take something special to settle down this dangerous fight! The soothing sounds from JoJo's cello did the trick. The fight ended with a mellow Da Gator going home.

That night JoJo headed down to the clubs to see who was playing. When people saw him walk by they always commented on how much rhythm he had, even in his walk. He was simply one of those genius people born full of music! JoJo didn't know it but many nights Jamal would follow along, sit outside the clubs and listen to the jazz and blues music.

Jamal had never told his grandfather but he was taking music class in school. He wished one day to be almost has good as JoJo. As Jamal walked home that day he remembered this was the weekend of the big football game. The Florida Gators would be playing. Everyone got so excited about the game. People planned for these games for a long time and there was always a lot of excitement.

People would dress up and have tailgating parties. Jamal was very surprised when he saw Da Gator. He was decked out for the ball games and cheering right along with everyone else! He was so excited it seemed he was the teams biggest fan! Jamal thought it was all pretty funny seeing Da Gator with his big #1 glove on!

Unfortunately, the Gators didn't win that day which set Da Gator off into a fit. Grandfather JoJo got out his trombone and they told Da Gator to get in Jamal's back yard pool and cool off. With JoJo's soothing music and the cool swimming pool, Da Gator calmed down very quickly. Finally Jamal felt brave enough to show his grandfather what he had been doing.

He got out his trumpet and started to play. Grandfather JoJo was so impressed! He had no idea that Jamal was even interested in music. He grabbed his trumpet and the two of them started playing a duet together. JoJo couldn't believe how good Jamal was. All those nights outside the clubs listening to all the groups and his grandfather had sure paid off. He was on his way to learning from the very best and someday maybe he'd be teaching his grandson to play as well. One thing for sure that proved Jamal was getting very good, Da Gator was doing his gator jig. That settled it, Jamal was on his way to becoming a great jazz man too!

IF YOU WANT SOMETHING BADLY ENOUGH AND PRACTICE HARD ENOUGH, THERE IS ALMOST NOTHING YOU CAN'T ACHIEVE!